I have long believed that gravity is, in the end, the thing that brings us down.
Now, prolonged periods of weightlessness are no one's best friend: witness the state of astronauts and cosmonauts when first they return to Earth after sustained periods in orbit — they need to be carried from their spacecraft, so weak have they become as a result of the absence of gravity to work against.
The inexorable pull towards the center of the planet from the moment we stop growing, allowing that downward movement to proceed unopposed, causes all sorts of havoc.
Pinched nerves, the result of narrowing of the outlets between the bones of the spine wherein lie the motor and sensory conduits of motion and sensation, are a result of gravity.
The first line of treatment is thus to open up those narrowed channels: traction — stretching the spine so as to elongate it — is successful in a surprisingly large percentage of cases involving the cervical (neck) vertebrae.
I speak from personal experience: I had a terrible cervical disc problem about 15 years ago.
I could not sleep, I could not think straight, the dull, throbbing pain and ache were 24/7.
Medications left me woozy.
My hand was numb and weak which meant the clock was ticking: after a certain period of time nerve damage is permanent.
Surgery to relieve the nerve compression (it was at C3/C4 on the right, if you must know) seemed imminent.
I visited Dr. John Jane, the chairman of Neurological Surgery at UVA Medical School.
He examined me, told me what I had, sent me for an MRI to confirm it (which it did) and prescribed cervical over–the–door traction, four times a day, 15 minutes per session.
Long story short: you buy a kit at CVS or wherever containing a big plastic bag, a rope, a harness for your chin and head, and a pulley that rests on top of a door.
You fill the bag with 20 pounds of water (there's a red line that indicates that amount as well as lesser volumes), put the harness under your chin and skull, sit down in a chair, and let the weight — via the rope and pulley — exert a steady pull upward under your head.
That's it.
Nothing happened until about the fourth day, when I suddenly noticed that the pain seemed less intense while I was sitting there.
And it stayed diminished after I was done.
With each subsequent session it got better.
After another week or so the pain and ache were gone and strength started to return to my hand.
I asked Dr. Jane how something so simple could have so profound an effect.
He told me that nerve compression — or its absence — is a matter of fractions of a millimeter: the tolerances at the level of function vs. pathology are that critical.
Stretching the spine just enough to open up that tight space just the tiniest amount was enough to relieve the problem and allow healing.
Which brings us all the way back around to the door gym (above and below).
I don't use mine to do pull–ups: rather, I simply dangle from it for 5–10 seconds whenever I'm nearby.
It feels great and I believe it provides relief from the day–long assault of gravity on the spine and the rest of the body.
I have one upstairs and one downstairs.
I'm 5'9" tall and the bar itself is 6'4" above the floor so I can't fully extend when I dangle: I try to let my spine and shoulders and hips get as loose as I can, then bend my knees so my feet just touch the floor while I hang there.
So pleasant and, I believe, good for things that don't yet — and who knows, may never — ail you.
From a number of websites:
- The Door Gym mounts in one second in your doorway, making pull–ups possible
• No fasteners required
• The simple device uses the weight of your body leveraged against the door frame and requires that you have a doorway with trim
• When used properly it will not damage doorway and can be installed and removed in 1 second.
• You can also do deep push-ups with the Door Gym by placing it on the floor
Door Gym door size requirements:
• Face molding around door: minimum 1-1/2" — maximum 3-1/2"
• Molding distance from wall: minimum 1/4" — maximum 3/4"
• Wall thickness: minimum 4-1/4" - maximum 6-1/4" (trim to trim)
• The Door Gym has been designed to fit residential (framed) wooden doorways 24" to 32" and support up to 300 lbs.
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An excellent investment in terms of cost vs. potential benefits.
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