Inclined Therapy applies the same tension to the spinal column without the need for an inversion table.
Head down tilt as mentioned does make one dizzy, it also prevents the filtration of blood in the kidneys, as my wife and I found in an experiment, measuring urine density. The urine produced head down, was around the same density of water, indicating that the toxins that should have come out of the blood, remained in the body.
Over time this would be disastrous for our health.
There are a huge amount of published papers on the detrimental affects to the body from inversion, though most relate to short term head down rest and long term head down rest. Search terms Head down tilt hdt, Trendelenburg
Myth: The Trendelenburg position
improves circulation in cases of shock
Sonia Johnson, BA; Sean O. Henderson, MD
,
http://www.caep.ca/CMS/temp/pg48%281%29.pdf
Trendelenburg position versus
passive leg raising
Reich and coworkers compared the Trendelenburg position
to passive leg raising in 18 hypotensive patients with coronary
artery disease. Trendelenburg positioning was associated
with higher mean arterial pressure (82 mm Hg v. 77
mm Hg; p < 0.05) and cardiac output (4.53 L/min v. 4.24
L/min; p < 0.05); however, the adverse effects outweighed
the benefits because both interventions stressed the right
ventricle and led to deterioration of pulmonary function.8
Terai and colleagues performed a similar study comparing
the autotransfusion effect of the Trendelenburg position
and passive leg raising in 8 healthy adult males. In this
study both positions increased left ventricular filling,
stroke volume and cardiac output, but the effects were
transient and returned to baseline within 10 minutes. These
authors suggested that both positions might be beneficial;
however, given the small sample size and the use of
healthy volunteers rather than hypovolemic patients, these
conclusions are questionable.9
Conclusion
The Trendelenburg position is taught in schools and on the
wards as an initial treatment for hypotension. Its use has
been linked to adverse effects on pulmonary function and
intracranial pressure. Recognizing that the quality of the
research is poor, that failure to prove benefit does not
prove absence of benefit, and that the definitive study examining
the role of the Trendelenburg position has yet to
be done, evidence to date does not support the use of this
time-honoured technique in cases of clinical shock, and
limited data suggest it may be harmful. Despite this, the
ritual use of the Trendelenburg position by prehospital and
hospital staff is difficult to reverse, qualifying this as one
of the many literature resistant myths in medicine.
