Hanging from a pull-up bar is often touted as a great way to decompress the spine. Many who seek relief from back pain or spinal compression attempt it too, often with mixed success. This raises questions about its efficacy in providing spinal decompression.
What is spinal decompression?
Spinal decompression refers to the relief or reduction of pressure on the spinal discs and nerves. It’s often sought by those experiencing back pain, as it can potentially alleviate discomfort caused by conditions like herniated discs or compressed nerves.
Various methods, including traction devices, inversion tables, and hanging exercises, are purported to aid in spinal decompression by elongating the spine and creating space between vertebrae.
Does hanging decompress?
Hanging can create traction on the spine, elongating it and potentially increasing the intervertebral space. However, the extent and duration of this decompression effect can vary. Scientific evidence supporting traction and other non-surgical spinal decompression therapy’s long-term effectiveness or its ability to address specific spinal conditions remains limited and inconclusive.
“Imagine a rubber band, when you stretch a rubber band and release it, it falls back to its original position once the pressure is released,” says Dr Sunny Kamat, consultant, spine orthopaedic surgeon, Manipal Hospitals, Goa. “Similarly, in our body whenever our body part gets stretched, it will fall back to its original position. So, technically, it’s more like a placebo effect and nothing scientific about it.”
“It is not a new technique and has been done as a traditional treatment for spinal pain. In the pre-MRI era, people opted for this because there was no proper facility for medicine. There were no surgical options or injection therapy. It helps because it buys more time for the inflammation to subside,” adds Dr Kamat.
Pain in the spine can be due to many reasons ranging from degeneration with age, slip disc, to disc prolapse. All these conditions are caused by the inflammation of the nerves and the joint.
“Even if we don’t do anything about the inflammation, nature has designed our body in such a way that it subsides with time,” adds Dr Kamat. “On average, it takes one month. So, regardless of whether you hang for 15 days, 50% of the inflammation should naturally subside in this duration. Eventually, by one month, you will be feeling pain-free.”
Better options than just hanging
“In today’s era, when you have everything at your disposal, such as MRI scans, good surgical procedures, and injection therapy. It is a waste of time to hang regularly for one week or two weeks to deal with the pain,” says Dr Kamat.
Instead of hanging after heavy sets to decompress the spine, or to manage spinal conditions, there are other, better options around.
“Instead of hanging, I would advise people to do proper stretching and strengthening of their muscles,” says Dr Kamat. “Hanging is very subjective; not every person can hang unless they have well-developed muscles, and hanging can injure some muscles or ligaments around the wrist and the shoulder. So, instead of benefitting you, it might cause you injuries.”
Takeaways
Hanging is seen as a great way to decompress the spine. Many seek relief from back pain or spinal compression through it.
- Spinal decompression is the reduction of pressure on the spinal discs and nerves.
- Scientific evidence supporting traction and other non-surgical spinal decompression therapy’s long-term effectiveness or its ability to address specific spinal conditions remains inconclusive.
- Hanging needs well-developed muscles to perform. Instead, simply focusing on stretching and strengthening the muscles will be better for the spine.
