Traction and stretching

When the body's weight is suspended from the lower body – rather than borne on the hands as in handstands or headstands or hanging from a bar with arms at sides, which are also forms of inversion – the pull of gravity may decompress the joints of the body below the anchor.

Hanging by the feet, as with gravity boots or inversion tables, causes each joint in the body to be loaded in an equal and opposite manner to standing in an identical position of joint alignment. Inversion therapy of this sort is often commercially advertised as a relief for back pain.

Proponents claim that inversion therapy is particularly beneficial for the spine in that it relieves pressure on the discs and nerve roots; this in turn allows discs to recover lost moisture and to return to their original shape, decreasing the pressure they can exert on nerves.

Holding the bones of the spine and legs together, the ligaments crossing the joints under traction are subjected to pulling forces, assisted by passive muscle tension, the skin, and the fascia. Proponents claim gradual introduction and increases of the intensity and duration of traction can cause stimulation for the strength of ligaments to increase.

Posture

Proponents advocate that traction can be a tool to restore proper alignment to the spine, which may assist in maintaining proper posture when later righted. As misalignment of the hips and spine can itself be a source of inflammation and pain, this is another argument for traction as a back therapy.

Flexibility

Supine Arm Stretching

Inversion devices are promoted as a tool to be used in gaining flexibility. Static-active stretching methods impossible to perform while standing can be performed upside down for the spinal flexors,side flexors and extensors, and situps are a closed-chain exercise for the hip flexors (a static-active stretch for the hip extensors) compared to the upright exercise, leg raises, which are open-chain movements. Due to increased spacing in the joint which can occur in response to traction, the muscles crossing that joint are pre-stretched, and as such, experience a greater lengthening compared to the equivalent joint angle while under no traction (lying down) or while being compressed (standing).

Blood flow

Claims are made that inversion stimulates circulation differences due to gravity acting on the circulatory system in an opposite manner, opposing what it would normally assist, and assisting what it would normally oppose compared to standing upright. This pooling of blood and greater circulation is thought by some to increase oxygen flow to those tissues, primarily in the brain or roots of the hair, which are normally above the heart.

A Teeter® brand product, made by the same company who has manufactured Teeter Hang Ups® for 26 years, the DFM is supported by engineering experience for the unique dynamics of inversion equipment.