How to Do Intermittent Stretching with Inversion Table

Video Transcript

"Welcome to Expert Village my name is Dr. Ed Riffel. In this clip we're going to do some intermittent stretching. It's also referred to as brachiation because it opens up the ribs, the intercostals spaces, allowing for more expansion of the lungs. We're in the start position, and we're just going to raise our hands up, and when we go over we'll extend, hold for a few seconds, and then we're just going to go back up and go up to a parallel position. Then we're going to go back down. So we're just opening, intermittently, opening and closing this particular movement. This also has an affect of imbibitions, where it's opening and closing the spinal intervertebral spaces and bringing more circulation into the soft tissues, the disc and the ligaments around the vertebrae. I'm going to run through this and then we can do one hand up. This also has an effect on the lateral hemispheres when you do one hand at a time. Because the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, the left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, so as you do this it's opening up those pathways. It's like a crawl position; your body is balancing itself out. It's a wonderful safe exercise."