| Body Realignment | Muscle Pain | Ligaments | Inversion |

People who care about their quality of life and health (and athletes certainly do) are adding inversion to their daily fitness programs.

Inversion helps athletes in several ways:

Nearly every physical activity involves some form of compression of the spine. The compressive effect of gravity is compounded by activities such as running, weightlifting, aerobics, skiing, biking, and golf which can exact an incredible toll on the spine discs and back muscles.

If we perform our daily activities in the wrong way, we can cause a misalignment of the spine. Most often these misalignments are nominal and will readily correct themselves given the opportunity. Inversion with movement (such as side-to-side bends, back arches, and a partial sit-up or two) provides that opportunity. This decompressive inverted stretch is most effective when done at the completion of a workout or following any significant physical effort. An alternative is to invert just before bedtime.

One-sided activities may be the most damaging and troublesome for the athlete for two reasons: The body will tend to over compensate for the strong-side muscle groups, pulling the spine out of alignment, and one-sided activities usually involve rotation of the spine, often under incredible loads. The muscles that rotate the intervertebral joints in one direction may be stronger than those that rotate it the other direction. These unequal forces make the joints weaker and more vulnerable. Parts of the bone surfaces bear more weight that they should This imbalance can cause pain. Examples of these activities are golf, water skiing, tennis, bowling, racquetball, and baseball.

Inversion after one-sided physical activities helps realign the spine and keeps athletes performing at higher levels for longer periods of time.

Athletes prone to stiffness or muscle spasms after a work-out can benefit from the lymphatic wash provided by inversion. Intense muscles activities cause muscles to become sore. This is due to the build up of large amounts of lactic acid and carbon dioxide in the muscles. The faster this waste is cleared, the faster the stiffness in the muscles disappears. The alternate stretching and relaxing of your muscles through movements during inversion clears the lactic acid and other wastes accumulated during physical activities. Many athletes find that severe back spasms that used to take up to ten days to recover from are now cleared in three to four days through the use of inversion.

The performance of inverted activities can be enhanced through inversion training. If you are not used to being upside down, you will be disoriented, making the performance of any activity in this position difficult. Inversion helps to develop balance awareness, which occurs when the upper regions of the inner ear are stimulated. Sky divers, gymnast's, springboard divers, and scuba divers will find that inversion therapy fine-tunes the body and the inner ear to the upside-down world. Inversion therapy has also been used to normalize the ear canal as a treatment for motion sickness.

Ligaments are fibrous strips that hold your bones together. Most important are the ligaments which hold the disc nuclei inside the disk and the paraspinal ligaments that run the length of the spinal column. Ligaments are flexible but not very elastic. They can tear when they are stretched too much. The gentle reverse pull and stretch that occurs while you invert strengthens both ligaments and connective tissue, and helps to protect the athlete from serious injury.

• Stretching the spine can reverse the effects of compression activities (running, weightlifting, aerobics) which are compounded by the force of gravity.
  
• One-sided sports (i.e., golf, baseball, & tennis) can pull the spine out of alignment--Inversion helps realign the vertebrae.
  
• Inversion encourages the lymphatic system to cleanse the muscles of built-up lactic acid, thereby relieving sore muscles.

• Inverted training allows skydivers, gymnasts, scuba divers and springboard divers adjust to the upside-down world.
  
• Stretching ligaments in the spine can help reduce the risk of injury to the athlete.