A new study published in the Journal of Physical Therapy Science brings good news to people struggling with sciatica and lumbar disc disease: surgery may not be your only option for relief. Researchers at Newcastle University found that inversion therapy with a Teeter inversion table offers back pain and symptoms relief in sciatica patients that may even allow them to avoid surgery altogether.
The case-controlled study evaluated the effects of regular inversion therapy on the pain symptoms of sciatica patients in line for surgery. The purpose of the study was to, “[measure] symptoms and [compare] the surgery rate following inversion for 85 participants with the surgery rate in 3 control groups.”
Researchers found that lumbar disc disease and sciatica patients in line for surgery who inverted with a Teeter inversion table regularly were 50% less likely to need surgery than matched individuals who didn’t invert, even as far as two years after the initial trial period.
The study suggests, “…inversion therapy reduces symptoms and the rate of surgery in patients with lumbar disc disease and sciatica.”
Natural Relief: The Benefits of Inversion Therapy on Back Pain Symptoms and Disability
Perhaps even more insightful, study participants who maintained an inversion practice reported significant improvements in overall back pain symptoms and disability. The Newcastle study reports, “after inversion treatment, we also saw improvement in the pain and disability measures in the registry patients…more than 75% of patients showed an improvement over the time period”.
Among reported improvements, the VAS pain score reduced in half, even months after initial in-clinic trials. Overall pain symptoms and disability were reduced, and mobility and flexibility were increased.
Conclusion
This study demonstrates that inverting with a Teeter Inversion Table can bring great benefits to back pain sufferers, and specifically those with sciatica who are facing the possibility of back surgery.
As the study acknowledges, inversion therapy has been used to treat back pain and spinal compression for thousands of years, returning to popularity as recently as the 1960s. Teeter has been a trusted name in the inversion industry since 1981, helping over 3 million people feel better, move better, and live better at home with quality inversion devices and fitness and recovery tools.
About the Authors
Five authors of this peer-reviewed study are neurosurgeons, including Alexander D. Mendelow, who was head of Neurosurgery at Newcastle University for 35 years and has been published over 800 times.
Citation
Mendelow, A. D., Gregson, B. A., Mitchell, P., Schofield, I., Prasad, M., Wynne-Jones, G., Kamat, A., Patterson, M., Rowell, L., & Hargreaves, G. (2021). Lumbar disc disease: the effect of inversion on clinical symptoms and a comparison of the rate of surgery after inversion therapy with the rate of surgery in neurosurgery controls. Journal of Physical Therapy Science, 33(11), 801–808. https://doi.org/10.1589/jpts.33.801
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