Slow rocking on the inversion table is what you want to do. It can/might help with lumbar pain. You need to combine it with other "exercises" for your at home treatment. We don't know much about the cause of your pain.

Had L4-S1 disc decompression in January, still some residual pain. Pain management doc recommended traction/stretching with an inversion table.

I have a bulging disc at L4-5 and bought an inversion table (this one). When my pain was at its worst, it helped occasionally, but it was never a dramatic improvement. I rarely use it nowadays (2+ years since injury). I also did a Physical Therapy (MedX) for about 12 weeks and saw little improvement other than building up plenty of other muscles and slightly strengthening my back.

The one thing that has worked for me is doing Yoga (currently Vinyasa style). Moving between poses and holding them for far longer than I did while stretching has done wonders for my back. It tends to be sore the day after a class, but far better throughout the week otherwise. There is recent research to back up the idea that Yoga actually works as well as PT , and for me it has proven more valuable.

Got a teeters....helps some for back. Use it to reverse gravity affects too. But real help for lower back is to likely correct poor posture from sitting too much for most folks. Anterior pelvic tilt will creep in as we age and ton of stuff on web to help. Good bike fit essential too if you ride aero and let back extend too much. 5-10 minute gentle stretch not full inversion is my routine about 4x week. Clears the mind too.

Have a history of L4/5 hernia. No surgery. Did strengthening of hip and lumbar extensors plus core -not situps- and rocking on inversion table. No trouble getting into the aero position for 70.3 events. Feel great.

No research to show traction for lower back pain is effective. I'm willing to be your pain is more related to a loss of extension active range of motion of the lumbar spine. Find a PT!!

Like BudhaSlug vinyasa / flow yoga has helped me manage my lower back pain. Had an MRI that showed 5-6 disc protrusions and the pain was bad for years ... since I've started doing yoga I'm back to pre-pain days. I've noticed that if I skip yoga for 2-3 weeks the pain returns.

Sorry I don't have experience with an inversion table. One of my gym instructors used it who said it helped her, but my suggestion to anyone is to try yoga - specifically vinyasa - first (many of the poses are the same as the stretching exercises recommended by my PT).

Roger Teeter, the engineer behind the inversions, was a competition slalom water-skier. He owned EP waterskis. Of course he had a sore back, due to the twisted imbalance of standing on a slalom skiing and pulling 500lbs of force. He was a great businessman, but not a great engineer imo, because he didn't solve the "core" problem.

Imo most back issues fundamentally start from imbalanced activity which causes the pelvis to distort. The focal point of the distortion is the flexy SI joint, which then wreaks havoc on the lumbar region. Examples are golfers (Tiger), baseball, hockey, tennis players, speed skaters - any sport you can think of with a twist imbalance is most problematic.

Then there is F<>B imbalance by driving, sitting, cycling, swimming too much FS, working conditions, and other's I've missed.

A good PT will be able to find the causes and solve through therapies such as IMS to loosen, then rehab to correct the systemic underlying issues.

Yoga is excellent maintenance because it's full motion and balanced. But I would look at diagnosis and rehab first before going into yoga as a corrective measure, having done that myself.

---

Training Tweets: https://twitter.com/Jagersport_com
FM Sports: http://fluidmotionsports.com