Innova Advanced Heat and Massage Inversion Table for Back Pain Relief - Therapeutic Home Fitness Equipment for Spinal Decompression and Relaxation - Perfect for Home Gym, Physical Therapy, and Stress Relief

Ok, I've read a lot of the good and bad reviews. I'm writing this first impression 24 hours and about 5 usages of the table after I acquired/assembled it. I'll add longer term thoughts once that's appropriate.Assembly points...If you're a smallish person, make sure you have a partner to help assemble this. I'm 6'5" and even my wingspan made some of the elements of putting it together quite challenging. Although Innova provides all of the tools you'll potentially need, I strongly recommend having a socket wrench handy to make assembly MUCH easier. The instructions are reasonably clear though some of the pictures are pretty small, so take your time in determining which parts go where (the major parts aren't labeled but the hardware is on a nicely labeled card, which is easy to match to the instructions). The table part is preassembled but you'll have to unbolt the various parts to get the protective plastic completely off. Just remove them one at a time, pull the plastic out from underneath that part, and replace that bolt. It took about 90 minutes to completely install the unit and I found the machining to be right on the mark from start to finish; no major struggling to get things to fit together. As I mentioned, I am very tall, and I weigh about 265 pounds, and I find it quite sturdy and safe to use. This is my first time using an inversion table and the sensation takes a bit of getting used to, but it actually becomes quite relaxing if you give it a moment. The "massage" element is, of course, simply a vibration pad, which I suppose is exactly what one ought to expect for the price point, but it felt nice on my back and it warms up pretty quickly, too. All in all, my first impressions are quite positive and I'm curious to see how much this will help my back and neck. I'll update this in a few months when I have a little more time under my belt.Update, December 2022. I would still strongly recommend this unit. It's been steady as a rock with not the first hint of a problem. I find that using the least aggressive setting on the inversion and doing it for like 5 minutes makes a marked difference in the level of pain in my back. Make sure you take some time at setup to get the height adjustment right; it makes all the difference, especially when you're alone when you're using it. When it's properly balanced, it's pretty easy to pull yourself up out of the inverted position.