Inversion Therapy: Why so Many Athletes Use Inversion Therapy

An athlete’s body is his or her most important tool. It’s your moneymaker, your temple, and your vehicle to achieve greatness and live on forever.

But all of the hard work, sweat, and training that you put in each day to help improve your health and fitness also have a negative impact on your joints, muscles, and mind. Ironically enough, that same grit, determination, and inner belief that you are an indestructible machine that drives you to greatness can also be your eventual downfall

More and more athletes have been turning to inversion therapy, a revolutionary, all-natural physical therapy method to help them stay in peak condition while managing the negative effects of intense training.

Inversion Table Beside Floor Rugs

What is Inversion Therapy?

Every time you run, jump, dive, or spin, you are putting pressure on your muscles and joints. While this improves your strength and conditioning, it also exerts intense pressure on the vertebrae in your back (as well as on your other joints).

Inversion therapy is the use of gravity to naturally relieve the pressure on your joints and back. Instead of using pulleys, medicine, or surgery to relieve pain, inversion therapy has you lie upside down with your head below your feet on a special table (called an inversion table).

In this position, your body uses natural forces to stretch out the back, realign your spine, stimulate blood flow, and relieve pressure (and stress). 

Why Does Inversion Therapy Aid Athletes?

We don’t have to tell you the effects of intense training. All of the minor aches and pains might not deter you from accomplishing your goals, but they are normally signs of larger problems developing below the surface. Waiting until something goes wrong can have severe consequences for your long-term health and performance.

Regular inversion therapy is both a precautionary method to keep your body in top physical form and a training method to help you achieve peak performance.

Some issues that athletes regularly deal with are:

  • Long-term joint damage: Retired athletes often walk with a limp, have trouble sitting for too long, or have other mobility issues. The stress on your joints is fine while you are young and mobile, but you must take a long-term approach to managing these issues or life will be very difficult down the road.
  • Injury-prone muscles: Injuries are an unavoidable part of playing sports (unless you’re Karl Malone or Lebron James). If your muscles are exhausted from training, then you run the risk of inflammation, rupture, or worse.
  • Cartilage damage: The cartilage in your joints is what stops your bones from rubbing together. Without it, you may lose a good deal of athletic ability. At the very least, you’ll be in severe pain regularly.

The Benefit of Inversion Therapy for Athletes

In the offseason, after games, or just during their spare time at home, thousands of athletes are using inversion tables to improve their athletic performance on the court or maintain their health off it.

If you’re an athlete with a demanding training schedule, you’ll immediately notice long-term benefits to your overall health. Some of the biggest benefits are:

  • Joint pain relief and improved joint health: Running, jumping, or kicking puts enormous strain on your joints. Inversion therapy helps relieve pain by naturally pulling the joint apart and relieving stress and pain. It will also help strengthen your joints so they can better absorb shock in the future.
  • General pain relief: The public sees your success on the field but rarely catches a glimpse of your pain off it. If you’re suffering from back, neck, shoulder, knee, or other nagging pains, decompressing your vertebrae and stretching your body out will help relieve chronic pains naturally.
  • Improved blood flow: Inversion therapy stimulates blood flow and circulation, helping to fight off inflammation and blood clots, and invigorates your muscles for better, more productive training.
  • Stress relief: Everyone dreams of greatness, but few realize the toll it takes on your mind. Life in the spotlight leads to headlines, usury, speculation, and the end of privacy as we know it. If you suffer from the side effects of stress (like we all do!), inversion therapy is relaxing for the body and mind. You’ll relieve the stress on your muscles, which translates to more comfort psychologically. 
  • Increased core strength: Laying upside down helps exercise your core as gravity acts as a natural form of resistance. A stronger, more dynamic core will help you avoid injury and perform better when it matters most.
  • Better balance: While the jury is still out scientifically, there is a good deal of evidence showing that inversion therapy increases blood flow to the inner ear, aiding in maintaining balance. Also, strengthening your core will improve posture, which helps relieve pain and improve balance as well.

Physical Therapy Whenever and Wherever You Want

The benefits of inversion therapy for athletes go far beyond the physical. Investing in an inversion table allows you to get a therapy or training session in any time you want, right from the comfort of home. Also, you won’t have to hire yet another therapist. The added convenience is a major reason that teams and individual athletes are gravitating (no pun intended!) toward this method of gravitational therapy. Just choose the right table and set it up in your home or at the gym, and you’ll be good to go.

Basketball players, runners, swimmers, football players, and athletes from the entire range of sports are turning to inversion therapy to relieve pains, improve conditioning, and safeguard their health years after they retire. The improved recovery, muscle performance, core strength, and blood flow will give your body a new level of dynamism and resistance to injury than it’s ever had. Investing in an inversion table is one of the best investments an athlete can make hands (and heads) down!

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