Modern Vespa

Me too please!

My mom uses these rollers with her personal trainer and says they do wonders for leg stiffness and pain.

Okay, after two or so weeks of having the inversion table, I thought I would write an extremely unhelpful update. Unhelpful because after being in so much pain for so long, I ended up trying several different things all at the same time. Ugh, I'm not sure *which* one is helping, but I will list what I am doing.

First of all, I found out that I have moderate to severe osteoarthritis in my lumbar region of my spine. Great. Secondly, I have something else going on, and have had two separate CT's on my abdomen and pelvis, but the results are not back yet. I am assuming this is causing some back pain also.

As for the inversion table. It's amazing. I really like it a lot. When I first got on it, I cracked and popped in places, (always on my right side), that I had never ever popped before, like my neck, knees and ankles. I'm not that heavy, so it's not terribly uncomfortable on my feet or ankles hanging upside down. I feel relaxed and refreshed after just a short (10 minutes, 2 x's a day) on it.

The other change I did was start The McDougall Diet. Pretty much vegan, with lots of starch (being brown rice, whole grains, etc)., with lots of fruits and veggies and beans. I've been eating yummy food, (believe it or not), and my energy level has skyrocketed as if I were 20 again. No lie. Amazing, and I wouldn't have believed it if I weren't living it. Easy to do, (I'm SO not into complicated), and if anyone wants to check this out, http://www.drmcdougall.com/ , it's here.

The other thing I started (given some advice on Dr. McDougall's site), was to start taking 1500 mg of straight Glucosamine and a vitamin D supplement.

Oh, and of course, I have started a very abbreviated workout, considering what I was doing before. Really just walking 30 minutes on a fat burning program on the treadmill. I'm going to try and add resistant weights again starting next week.

I still have cracking in my hip area, however, I can actually lay on that side and not have it hurt..,at all! My back does sometimes still get stiff (usually if I do a little too much or if I sit too long). Sitting on the floor always helps me realize my back is still not as well as I think it is.

I have, for the *most* part, cut out all dairy, meat, eggs, etc..,anything that comes from something that has a face. I am *trying*, trying really hard to give up wine and other alcohol, but god is that a tough-y. I've cut back considerably though. And I still do one cup of coffee in the morning, I'm *not* giving that up unless I know it's the ONLY thing that is causing my pain.

So, inversion table gets a thumbs up for me just because of how it makes me feel both physically and mentally.

I really think the key to me feeling better is this diet, however. NEVER, in a million years would I have thought that at any point in my life I would be *gasp*, dare I say, Vegan! But wow, I can NOT get over the difference it has made.

So, there you have it. An extremely unhelpful update on the inversion table.

I would try one out before getting one, of course, but my experience wasn't good. I have a disc problem in my back and have pulled muscles over the years also. So, sometimes I get some pain. My sister has one of these and one day when my back was killing me I got on it. I stayed inverted for about 15 minutes or so. It felt pretty good while I was on it but when I got off I couldn't even walk the pain was so intense. I think it was because my I stayed on it too long and got off of it very quick. I'm just saying that you should be aware and be very careful with things like this if you have a serious back problem and not just tension.

Just be careful of your knees. They aren't made to hold a lot of weight upside down. I haven't tried my table at a full 90 degrees. I keep it at 60, which seems to do the trick for me.

Glad you're liking it and I hope you find out more about the other stuff that's going on that could be contributing to your back pain.

In May we started the Ornish diet. I see he's mentioned on the site you provided. Very similar, but not vegan. We've had very similar experience to the diet change. Our mantra when tempted by something "off limits" is: "Nothing tastes as good as I feel."

Glad to hear the inversion table is working out for you. My dad had similar success.