Hanging For Spine Decompression: Good or Terrible?

Is spine decompression by hanging from a pull-up bar or spinal traction the answer to fixing your back pain? Let's dive in...

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[swiishtv]

Just showing support as a former athlete turning 32 my lower back issues have arrived from seditary desk work. Trying to get ahead of it all before it gets to bad.

[josephdouglas]

Man I slept on this channel hard because it said Squat University, I figured it was going to be only about squats all the time. This is one of the best channels for biomechanics and figuring it what NOT to do and what you should be doing.

[jasonsyco]

I have dealt with severe chronic back pain for over a decade and always though that hanging from a pull up bar should help. I would experience pain and your video convinced me to double down on my PT routine and level up the intensity of my core training. After doing minute long planks 2-5 times a day for about 1 week, my lower back pain has stopped. I cannot believe it and thank you so much for helping me diagnose the root cause of my problem.

[konradkitrys]

Underrated video, this video really emphasizes understanding the anatomy and physiology behind what's actually causing your specific lower back pain either too much axial loading & compression (deadhanging would relieve pain) or spinal instability (too which deadhanging would cause more instability leading to increased pain) Understand your injury, understand your recovery

[Ktotheyle]

Hands up to squat university. This has been a game changing channel to my entire fitness life. I have learned so much from this channel that I am almost willing to share it with the rest of the world. I’m just kidding I share it with everybody. It’s such a great channel. I want everybody to know about it. Thank you so much. I really appreciate all the content and the great information provided has changed my life and I hope it changes many more people. Thank you.

[granttakemoto]

Man, your videos have actually saved me. I messed my back up so bad I couldnt even stand up for like 2 weeks. Fastforward for the next 4 years, I would re-injure it every now and then. And everytime, it was so demoralizing. Long story short, your videos have single-handedly been my saving grace for understanding what the actual issue is and what I need to do for rehab. ❤ Real love for this channel.

[MarianoGrande]

Thanks so much! I was trying all these ''fix your lower back pain'' exercises and none of them seemed to work. But now I finally undertand the core of the problem. This channel really is a gem

[jessen]

Decompressing my spine have help me so much, both hanging and using the lat pulldown machine with max load and just gripping it and pulling me down with my legs and then trying to hold it for as long i can, then doing drop set. It was a game changer ❤

[stylestewards]

Two doctors couldn’t diagnose this for me, but this is exactly what’s happening with me. I appreciate this video so I can move forward with recovery.

[Bored]

I do "dead hangs" but because of my anterior pelvic tilt, yeah it just increases the degree of tilt/pain. I've had to start flexing my abs forward to get my pelvis into posterior pelvic tilt, so I can still get the benefits of stretching those upper body muscles, but sadly losing the spinal traction benefits 😅

[thevision]

As I see these clips, it's for misalignment of muscles that cause tension on the spine but it's not for structural defects like arthritis of the back, etc. I should clarify, due to some great comments, it didn't mean these movements won't help some people, they just won't "fix" structural problems

[CU]

Love this. Hanging decompression always feels great for me while doing it, but once I get back to standing, I have excruciating pain, worse than before even hanging. It takes me a few seconds before I can walk comfortably again. Typical TikTok BS that makes it seem like it's actually a good thing for everyone. That's why I love this channel.

[naseralshareef]

He is absolutely right. I was working on my low back stiffness for the last couple of weeks using hot pack and hanging technique. It works and my back got better BUT… this morning I had a terrible back shock due to spine instability and I cannot move although I was fine before the decompression technique. I highly recommend to listen to what he says.

[Holdfast-]

Been doing dead hangs and pull/chin ups ever since I started lifting. Personally I credit never having had any back or shoulder joint pain to it despite mainly training with heavy compound movements.

[lucasvarley]

I love this vid! Super educational and helpful. I'm curious, have you ever used Next Level Diet? I got a personalized muscle-building meal plan from them and I love it.

[OKOKOKOKOKOKOK-znfy]

At 29, I had back surgery for L5/S1 + L4/L5 herniations.
Now, I have everything.
Herniated disks further up, arthritic changes near the pelvis, problems with compression, spinal stenosis, you name it, I got it bad...
The therapies are all contradictory. I have a sequence I go through.
Mild hyper-extension (for the nerve impingement from bulging disks), Muslim prayer stretches, hamstring stretches, piriformis stretches, inversion table, and static hanging. It takes a while, but after doing it all, I can walk pain-free for a few hours. Repeat after the gym...
There is definitely a sweet spot between tension and decompression. You develop a talent for getting it right.

Take good care of your backs, kids.

Life is long and an injury to your back will change everything.
When I moved and my new doctor saw my history in the Xrays, he shook his head and asked, "how the HELL did you WALK in here with that back?"

[glentither]

BOOM - beltin post buddy! As a back rehab qualified instructor these are things I teach all of my referrals. Everyone's just latched onto dead hangs, but don't realise that it can actually be making their spinal condition worse. Thanks for making and posting.

[gradeahonky]

Great health advice aside, let's take a moment to commend the pure communication skills. He's doing an amazing job of explaining fairly dense information, with almost perfect diction and intonation, while demonstrating, with barely any cuts.

[FitFighter]

Hi Doc, I would like to say special thanks to you for your shoulder pain videos. It helped me a lot.

[jim]

Hanging from a pull up bar feels amazing, but if I just drop, it hurts a lot. An inversion table works better because I can hold it longer (but not too long) and I can control recompression. It takes a lot of experimenting. I do both regularly, but I don't always have an inversion table.