Back pain can be merely a nuisance, or a very serious problem. If you’re an otherwise healthy person but suffer from weakness in your arms or legs, erection problems, difficulty controlling or not being able to open your bowels or bladder, changes to sensations in your body, such as needles and pins or numbness, etc. chances are you have spinal cord compression. If you have any of the aforementioned symptoms I recommend you get checked as soon as possible because diagnosing an illness and treating it on time can save your life.
You might need to get surgery, or if you’re lucky all you’ll need to go through is a spinal decompression therapy. This most often times includes using a traction machine for back and neck pain relief, and it’s a relatively fast and drug-free method to do so. If you can’t afford to go to therapy sessions a couple of times a week, you should consider buying a traction machine for back pain relief to use it at home.
Back traction is a method of gently stretching the spine. It’s highly advisable to consult with a physician before attempting to do any back traction on your own at home. If you happen to feel any extra discomfort or pain, stop immediately. Also, don’t do it under any circumstances if you have an unstable spine, a fracture, tumor, abdominal aortic aneurysm, severe spondylolisthesis, metal implants on the spine or a fresh disc surgery.
When using a back traction machine, it’s essential that you align the spine first and do not twist it while doing traction. The three most popular traction machines include the inversion table, the Nubax trio and the spinal stretch.
The inversion table works by using gravity and the weight of your upper body to extend your spine. You do this by sitting and strapping yourself in and gradually inverting in a low angle (30 degrees). As time goes by, you can start increasing that angle, but you don’t have to reach all the way to being completely hung upside down to get the full benefits of inverting.
The spinal stretch is one of the most comfortable ways to perform back traction at home. It’s an easy to use device and all you need is a fixed point, like a door and a ratchet system to control the tension. This may include a waist belt, traction belt, a metal ratchet, a nylon tote bag and an instructional DVD. After you strap yourself into the device and secure an anchor point, you can slowly ratchet the device that practically pulls you towards the anchor point.
And lastly, the Nubex trio machine. Some people are stressed out about hanging upside down and their only solution is this machine. This machine is capable of stretching your spine without inverting whatsoever. You simply get on your knees, place your underarms under the pads and lean forward. This method can even decompress your spine better than the inverting table. One thing to keep in mind is that you should start very slowly when using this machine.
