Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

As many of you and looking for a cost efficient back relief, I found this inversion table. I read the reviews and of course, I decided to buy it. I have been using it for about a month and since day one it provides me an awesome relief for my L5 lumbar herniated disc. However, there are side effects. I detail them below: 1. ASSEMBLY: Assembling the table is not difficult but probably they could assemble few more parts. Instead, the entire job is left to the customer. The overall table feels rock solid with the exception of the leg bottom supports, they are very cheap and low quality. However the rest of the equipment feels really nice. 2. USABILITY: The table is easy to use, just find your height, adjust the central bar and you are good to use it. I found the ankle supports to be well designed and overall confortable. I think you cannot expect a completely ankle pain free session because all your weight will be hanging off your ankles and just that fact hurts a bit but, it is tolerable. 3. FOLDING FLAT: Serious complains here. The two bar handles on the sides are connected to the table and lateral supports with screws. If you want to store the table flat, you will need to remove the screws. Without this operation this table won't fit under your bed or any narrow place and it uses a lot of space. 4. HEALTH CONCERNS AND SIDE EFFECTS: I started using the table gradually for 5 minutes and increasing a bit every day. However after 2 days I started developing a curious headache that will persist thru the night. I was quite surprised and I couldn't find any explanation. I visited a doctor who let me know that inversion tables, while good for you back are well-known to increase blood pressure. He pointed me to an study (that you can find if you g-o-o-g-l-e "inversion tables side effects") where it was scientifically demonstrated that spending only 3 minutes in an inversion table raises your blood pressure so people with any type of cardiovascular disease need to be very careful, even people who never had any type of hear related diseases may have significant increases of blood pressure. He also mentioned that they are known to cause eye injuries. One of the first studies to look into the effects of inversion tables on the eyes was published in 1985 in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Researchers evaluated healthy volunteers using inversion therapy and discovered that the intraocular pressure in the eye more than doubled, increasing to levels well within the range associated with glaucoma. There were also increases in pressure in the central retinal artery, as well as redness in the conjunctiva tissue that lines the inner surface of the eyelids and small red hemorrhages on the outside of the eyelids. The report concluded that--although long-term effects on the eyes of healthy volunteers were unknown--if you already have retinal vein abnormalities, macular degeneration, ocular hypertension, glaucoma or any other eye disorder, you should avoid inversion altogether. A study published in 1983 in the Journal of the American Osteopathic Association treated healthy volunteers from the Chicago College of Osteopathic Medicine with three-minute periods of passive inversion. The volunteers experienced an increase in systemic blood pressure from 119/74 mm of mercury before inversion to 157/93 mm of mercury during inversion. For this reason, if you suffer from congestive heart failure, carotid artery stenosis, high blood pressure or other heart or circulatory disorders, or are on anticoagulants or aspirin therapy, inversion therapy is not recommended. One of the most potentially serious side effects from inversion therapy is a stroke, which occurs when a blood vessel in the neck or brain becomes blocked or bursts. Due to the increased blood pressures involved in inversion therapy, as well as the pooling of blood into the neck and head areas, if you are already at risk for a stroke or transient ischemic attack, the inversion could trigger an attack. Symptoms typically include paralysis, difficulty speaking, memory loss and impaired thinking. So keep an eye on potential side effects and make sure the damages are not exceeding the benefits.