Blood pressure response to inversion traction

The purpose of this study was to determine blood pressure response to two minutes of inversion traction. Sixty female volunteers aged 20 to 30 years were assigned randomly to an Experimental or Control Group. After resting blood pressure was measured in the standing position, the Experimental Group was inverted for two minutes. Blood pressure was measured before the subjects dismounted. The Control Group remained standing for two minutes, after which blood pressure was measured again. The results of a Hotelling's T2 analysis and subsequent post hoc tests revealed a significant difference between the mean gain scores of the Experimental and Control Groups (p less than .05). Both systolic and diastolic blood pressures increased significantly. This increase with inversion indicates a need for caution when using inversion traction as a treatment technique for low back pain. Hypertensive individuals may need to avoid its use.