Teeter Hang Ups F5000 Inversion Table

I have had my inversion table for more than 10 years. I am a neuroscientist. There are a few physiological truths that pertain to being upside down, which may be of interest to people.
1. It takes time for your physiology to get used to being upside down. At first the blood rushes to your head. When this happens, rotate flat and wait for it to go away, then rotate back down at a shallow angle. Keep doing this until your body figures out not to make the blood rush to your head.
2. I have noticed that if you have caffeine in your system, it dilates the blood vessels in your brain, and exacerbates the blood rushing to your head. Try before you have coffee in the morning.
3. Gravity can only work on your spine and muscles if you are able to relax. Stress can make it impossible to relax sufficiently to get the stretching effect. Sometimes I need several sessions, or a glass of wine to be able to relax sufficiently. If you are not sufficiently relaxed, a muscle reflex to "tense against a stretch" can occur when the spine stretches.
4. When I need to "hang" I may need to use my inversion table for several days in a row. Eventually, I stretch, things go back into place, and then I don't use it again for weeks or months...when I hurt again.
5. I am heavy, and find being vertical (upside down) is too much pull on my ankles for comfort, but I get the same benefit from having the table (head down) at the same angle as the back support leg. Wearing sturdy shoes also takes the strain off my ankles.

Well made and worth the price. Beneficial and relaxing but be sure to adjust to your height. Sometimes my back will hurt when I get off this but that is probably just me.

First, if you're not supposed to use ANY inversion table, you probably shouldn't evaluate THIS one. And if you bought a different Teeter model, don't evaluate this one.

I'm 6-5+ and about 225 lbs, and used to use gravity boots, and I wanted something a lot more user-friendly. I wanted relief from back pain and from related joint pain, and a chiropractor friend suggested an inversion table as an inexpensive alternate to the highly-promoted DRX-9000 computer-driven traction table that chiropractors offer.

I am hard to please, generally speaking, so it is unusual for me to give any product more than 3-4 stars. But I tried three other inversion tables (one from Kettler, one from Dick's sporting goods, and a more expensive Teeter model, and the F5000 is easily the best of the bunch, although not quite perfect (see #4 below). The more expensive Teeter model didn't offer me anything that was worth the extra money.

Bottom line: (1) The ankle clamps on the F5000 are MUCH more comfortable than the other brands. IF you open up the ankle clamps fully when you get off the device, it is quite easy to get your ankles back in for the next session (I tied a little rope to the handle of the clamp release to make it a tad easier to reach - but that's a personal preference.) I use it without shoes on -- which the directions recommend against -- and just make sure the clamps are snug on my ankles. The clamps are spring-loaded, and will tighten up sufficiently if you wiggle your ankles a bit. (2) The Teeter models were MUCH easier to assemble -- just snap a few parts together (the Kettler took hours, and cost more), and climb on. Your first time on, it might take a minute or two to get everything adjusted right, but after that, no adjustments are needed. (3) Adjustment on the F5000 is really simple. Pull out a spring-loaded pin, slide the column to the appropriate hole for your height (marked on the column), and let the pin pop into that hole. (4) The tightly stretched fabric of the "bed" does stretch, so I bought a $2 "kneeling pad" at Home Depot and slid it inside the fabric. Problem solved. (5) You can fold it up and slide it under the bed, although it's not as compact as something like an ironing board.

SUMMARY: My 87-year-old father liked it for both back pain and neck pain, so he bought one for himself. Even though he usually shies away from new "gadgets," he had no trouble setting it up and adjusting it on his own. I think he said it took him about 10 minutes from the time he dragged the carton in from the garage until he was using it.

I bought this for my husband for his birthday, he has a bulging disc, this has eleviated his back pain. We have not fully inverted yet, baby stepping it, but so far so good

I have degenerative disk disease of my lower spine. using the teeter helps to take the pressure off the nerves when they are pinched. My whole family tried it and was amazed how easy it is and how good they felt afterwards.