Because of the way we now live and work, and this applies particularly to pilots and cosmonauts, our spinal column tends to be greatly overloaded (effects of aerobatics, percussion, vibration, work in an unnatural posture, accompanied by hypokinesis and static overloading, weightlessness etc), leading to the exhausting of physiological reserves, disruption of the adaptation and functional condition of the spinal system including the spinal column and surrounding muscles. This often leads to degenerative-dystrophic illnesses of the spine, whose clinical symptoms are among the most widespread neurological illnesses. This gives urgency to research into the testing of effective new means of correcting the functional condition of the spinal column. There follow the results of studying the functioning of the effectiveness of the ‘Gravitrin’ corrective bed. Its influence on the organism is based on the creation of the individual gradual axial stretching of the spinal column, brought about by the original construction of the supportive surface. The individual measure is determined by the reverse link between the stretching effort and the anthropometrical characteristics of the patient, primarily the body mass and hardness of muscles of the back and small of the back. The existence of this connection eliminates over-dosing and associated complications. The highly corrective effectiveness of the ‘Gravitrin’ was shown during tests in which volunteers suffering from moderate clinical symptoms of spinal degenerative-dystrophic diseases took part. In the course of ten days the index of discomfort gradually decreased. The pain syndrome and marked discomfort in the region of the spine disappeared completely by 9-14 corrections in the case of most patients. On the SAN scale, the evaluation of the patient’s subjective condition improved, averaging from 5.0 to 5.9 points (p<0.01).The stretching led to the removal of the pathological overloading of vertebral-motor segments, expressed in a definite increase of height immediately after the procedure, averaging 1.2cm (p<0.01). But the single procedure was found to be unstable and in the case of 55 per cent of patients its effect had disappeared the day after treatment For a stable result it is necessary to complete the 10-days’ course. The increase in height after such a course ranges from 0.5 to 2.5cm, an average of 1cm. Correction with the help of the ‘Gravitrin’ bed leads to improved vegetative functions of the organism. So in the course of treatment the Kerdo vegetative index definitely normalizes (p<0.01).Thus the ‘Gravitrin’ bed helps the organism generally and the spine particularly to adapt to functional overloading, creates preconditions for the formation of the patient’s rational stereotypical movement and restores the spine’s functional condition.
 
‘The Manual Therapy’, scientific-practical magazine, page 55-99, No. 3 (11), 2003, ISSN 1684-6753.