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WTR wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 10:03 amI don’t think you will be on long enough ( 5-10 min) for heat to build up. I think you would be better off heating up your back with a heating pad before you even get on the table. I’ve only done 6 min per session with no heat so far.

I've used a heating pad on the inversion table and it was helpful at first. Once I was able to rotate without involuntarily and spasmodically tensing whole muscle groups heat was just a distraction.

What I have found to work best for me is to spend about a half hour on the device. Only 5 or six minutes are ever spent fully inverted but the rest of the time I slowly rotate between ~22° and ~45°. The repeated stretch and relax cycles really works on my issues.

stever1950 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 23, 2018 9:51 am That looks like a pretty good one Roy, very close to mine. The heat could be beneficial and if not just turn it off. Just start off slow on the angle and work up to 45+ degrees. The first time will be painful for a minute until some things pop back in place, then it's like OOHHH. Might sound like you are laying on Rice Crispies...LOL.

I had the same experience as you at first. 45°wasn't comfortable at all but if I took my time rolling over and stopped every several degrees of rotation to relax, 45° of rotation was very beneficial.

My worst experiences with inversion was after stretching my back for a few minutes I would rotate back to the starting position. Doing the 1/2 sit up to go from reclining on the back board to sitting up ready to stand... excruciating! My newly relaxed lower back wanted to get involved in the sit up and it had no business doing that. I did hundreds of 1/2 sit ups on the machine to get used to making that transition.

The only disappointment in the whole inversion process, my lower back is stretched by the weight of my entire torso. Now that the low back feels good the upper needs attention. I'm considering a way to add weight to my head and/or shoulders to help stretch the upper back as much as the lower. So far I haven't come up with a workable solution.

I bought one of these for use on my inversion table: https://www.inversionbelt.com/product-p ... rsion-belt
And yes, I did pay that much for it. Knowing now what I now know, I would buy it again. Someone really crafty could make one for a lot less I suppose.

The point is I can fully invert for as long as suits me and my ankles, knees and hips are non-the-wiser. I have mine adjusted to approximately half my weight suspended by my ankles/feet and half suspended by the inversion belt.

When I was a younger man the strain on my lower extremities wouldn't have been a big deal. Now it is. However, I firmly believe inversion and stretching my knees and hips has helped them too. But without the belt it is way too much of a good thing.