Gravity’s a powerful force, yes. But did you know that its constant downward pull can take a toll on your body?
Over time, for instance, your spine becomes compressed due to gravity. And with compression usually comes pain. That’s where inversion tables enter the picture.
This particular type of home gym equipment doesn’t get a lot of love, but it is actually a very affordable addition to your home workout equipment. And it’s not just for people with back pain – it has benefits for people of all ages and fitness levels.
Keep reading to learn about some of these benefits and we’ll give you a run down on some of the best cheap inversion tables for the money right now.
Best Inversion Tables For The Money
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Benefits of Adding Inversion Tables to Your Routine
Designed for safely hanging your body upside down or positioning at any angle where your head is lower than your feet, this equipment relieves pressure on the spine and ultimately reverses or slows compression.
Thus it is often used for therapeutic purposes, although you can always get on it as a form of light stretching exercise. After all, the inversion table is not merely for managing back pain.
There are many other benefits to making this a part of your regular routine. We share some of the most notable ones below.
Alleviate back pain
Let’s start off with the most common reason people try inversion tables: back pain. Your body’s position on the table stretches out the spine—against the flow of gravity—so there’s less pressure on the discs and more room for them to expand.
Blood flow to your spine also increases with regular sessions, helping heal damaged discs.
The result: back pain is significantly reduced and in some cases eliminated.
Using the tables for inversion therapy can also save candidates for back surgery a whole lot of trouble (the surgery’s excruciating, full recovery can take months, and at times the pain ends up returning).
Boost joint health
As with your spine, gravity’s pull also has a harmful effect on your weight-bearing joints. Not only does it put pressure on the cartilage of your hips, backbone, ankles and knees.
The fluids that nurture your joints are also squeezed out.
But when you’re hanging on an inversion table, your joints open up and the fluids rush in between them, helping prevent or ease pain.
What if your joint pain is caused by stress from a high-impact workout? Getting on an inversion table can also provide relief as it stretches your ligaments and tendons, letting them relax and recover quickly.
Improve lymph system function
Your lymph system helps flush out toxins from your body, and inversion tables can help ensure that it gets the job done.
See, your lymph system requires motion to function efficiently. While moving around gets your lymphatic fluids flowing, the pull of gravity still causes fluids to pool in your ankles, feet and legs.
The buildup’s even worse if you’re leading a sedentary lifestyle.
By doing mild exercises on an inversion table, the lymphatic fluids are drained out of your lower extremities and in the process accumulated wastes, including lactic acid, are flushed out of your body.
Remember, the better your lymph system is functioning, the better your immune system gets at fighting off infections.
Stimulate circulation
When blood is pumped through veins and arteries and flows through the body, it’s going against the force of gravity. With inversion tables, your cardiovascular system can work with gravity to ease the process.
Improved circulation can do wonders for your body, from helping decongest and revitalize internal organs to eliminating toxins and allowing clean blood to flow more freely.
Suffering from varicose veins? An inversion table workout can draw out excess blood in the lower extremities and get those little gates in your veins to relax and then rebuild. (Regular sessions can even prevent them from forming in the first place.)
Maintain height
Here’s a surprising fact: You actually get shorter during the day (on average, about three-quarters of an inch shorter), with gravity’s pull compressing your spine.
And you could end up losing about an inch of your height or more over your lifetime.
The good news is inversion tables can stop this from happening by stretching your spine. But that’s not all.
If you use this equipment regularly, there’s also a good chance that you’ll not only maintain your height but even get taller.
Inversion tables can also make you feel taller, that is if you’ve developed poor posture due to years of slouching. With the right exercises, your vertebrae’s severe compression can be corrected and the tense surrounding muscles loosened up.
The benefits of inversion tables extend well beyond providing back pain relief. With proper use, they can improve your overall health and well-being, making you feel rejuvenated and energetic.
But to start off strong, make sure your body’s up for the challenge by consulting your physician. Then you can safely discover and enjoy all the perks of using inversion tables.
Our Favorites: Top 5 Best Inversion Tables Under $200 – $300 – $500
Inversion therapy is not a new concept just one not enough people are knowledgeable about. It involves being inverted at an angle while hanging by your legs and feet in order to decompress the spine and provide relief as well as several therapeutic benefits to your spine and back areas.
Have you got a stubborn back problem that sends shots of pain up your spine? That keeps you up at night with no ease? That is making your day to day life a living hell?
Then you’ve come to the right place as below we’ll be dissecting the our top five favorite inversion tables in the under $200 – $300 – $500 price range, which make affordable choices for people buying their first ever inversion table (after consulting a medical expert/doctor).
1. Ironman Gravity 4000 Inversion Table Review
The first table we recommend for those on a budget is the Ironman Gravity 4000. It stood out with its high weight capacity of 350 pounds, its ergonomic ankle cushions, and the fact that it folds for storage.
What stands out most is comfort and durability, once you check this one out, I think that you will notice the construction and design is made to last.
That’s because the Ironman brand has a good reputation when it comes to quality fitness equipment, and the Ironman Gravity 4000 is no exception to that. With memory form back and comfort pillow included for a relaxing (well as relaxing as it can be) time on this inversion table.
The only downside being it is not portable, get someone without a back problem to set this up for you and keep it in place to use from there. Of course, it does only weigh 75 pounds, so that might not be a lot to some stronger people.
So, if you are looking for a good portable inversion table, just keep in mind that while this one is a good folding inversion table, it does weigh 75 pounds if you want to transport it.
2. Innova ITX9600 Therapy Table Review
Next on our list: the Innova ITX9600 table. An affordable table that is sturdy and well made with easy set up. This is a good inversion table for heavier people, like the Ironman model above, because the weight limit is 300 pounds.
It feels very sturdy and heavy duty when in use.
Another positive of this cheap Innova inversion table is that it accommodates people of all heights. The size range for it is 4-foot 10-inches all the way up to 6-foot 6-inches.
Also like the Ironman model, this one has the ergonomic ankle holders.
The one downside to this table is it doesn’t rotate the full 180 degrees and instead goes up to 170 which is super close. The goal is to reach a full 180 rotation but most people do not work their way up to this milestone anyway.
3. Pure Fitness Inversion Therapy Table Review
One of the most popular questions people have when buying an inversion table is whether or not it can be used for exercise and fitness activities. This Pure Fitness model is ideal if you want to work in other fitness activities like ab training.
This model makes a perfect addition to your home gym because it is a very compact inversion table that folds for easy storage when not in use. That also makes it a good inversion table for small apartments, condos and other small spaces.
One thing to keep in mind about this one is that it is only a 3-position model, unlike the 5-position models listed up above. And, the weight limit of the Pure Fitness Inversion Therapy table is only 220 pounds!
A downside is the difficulty of assembly. This is a common fault noted for most inversion tables so expect to watch a few Youtube videos to remedy this!
4. Ironman IFT 1000 Infrared Therapy Table Review
Another model from Ironman for you to consider, we see this brand as a great option for those with back pain who need a good inversion table with heat therapy.
That is what we really like about this model – the addition of infrared heat to further enhance the affect of the spine compression and great for soothing aches and pains.
This model inverts 180 degrees and only has a weight limit of 275 pounds, so unfortunately it is not a good option for heavier guys and women. It does fold for storage when not in use, but it is a large piece of gym equipment.
This is a really good inversion table for tall people. The height range for it is 4-foot 9-inches up to 6-foot 6-inches in height.
One con would be storage, this table cannot easily fit under your bed so you’ll need to store it in the garage or a large room. A worthwhile trade off when you consider the unique infrared capabilities.
Another disadvantage of this one is that it will not work for really short people due to the height restrictions.
5. Invertio Folding Inversion Table with Backrest Review
You can have the best inversion table in the world but if it isn’t comfortable you’ll be literally pulling your hair out after the first session. We like that this has a padded pillow included for lower back support. And, the weight limit on it is 300 pounds!
One of the things we really like about this one is that it offer full inversion, which means that you can turn completely upside down on it!
Aside from that it’s ideal for larger people, while many inversion tables say they are suitable for larger people with height limitation up to 6-feet 6-inches but fail in reality this table actually delivers on those specifications.
However many people complained of lack of instructions so factor in time to check video tutorials to get this table set up.
With that being said these five options should have you well on your way to trying out your first beginners inversion table on a budget.
We know buying a new product you’re unfamiliar with is always a nerve racking process so we hope we’ve helped demystify the process a little for you!
top image credit By Giorgostr (Own work) [CC0], via Wikimedia Commons
Hi there
I have been using an inversion table for over ten years on a regular basis. I recently moved to a much smaller house and unfortunately I have no room to set up my inversion table so I ended up getting rid of it. I see there are some compact tables that apparently take up less room. I have not been able to find a fitness retailer with one however, they are only on line. I hesitate to buy one without seeing it first. Can you give me some advice on what to look for as a replacement. I am really suffering with out one and hope to find another soon!
Thanks