By the time he was in his 40s, Abraham Taltre's life had become a constant battle with agonizing pain. "About once a month my back would tighten up so badly that I would be bent over, unable to stand up," the former welder recalls . "Anything could set it off. Tying my shoes, even sneezing, was enough to cripple me."

The owner of a Tucson, Arizona construction company when his physical problems came to a head, Taltre had gone to work as a welder in his 20s. He believes it was the occupational hazards of his job, which involved plenty of heavy lifting and carrying, as well as pulling and pushing, that contributed to his debilitating condition.

"I had abused my back for years, and the damage started to show up in my 30s," he says now. "Many times I'd have to spend the weekend resting so that I could go in on Monday morning, And when I arrived at the job,I'd have to lie on the ground for a while just to straighten myself out. The mere act of driving to work was enough to disable me." Taltre saw various specialists, who prescribed everything from warm baths and physical therapy to p ain-killing drugs, but nothing seemed to work. The pain would go away temporarily, only to return with a vengeance.

One day, Taltre was visiting his sister-in-law and noticed she had one of the "gravity boot" inversion machines that were popular a few years ago. He tried hanging from his heels for awhile and found the experience was, as he describes it,"Interesting." I thought it was about the best thing yet for my back. Still, it wasn't quite right. The blood rushing to my head was uncomfortable and I felt disoriented. Besides, the machine was stre tching my ankles, knees, and hips, when I wanted to concentrate on stretching my back."

But the inversion machine had given him an idea. On the drive home - by this time, Taltre was incapable of driving himself - he found he was thinking about strange devices like the torturer's rack and wheel, which, in spite of their original function, did at least stretch the spine without requiring sufferers to hang upside down. If there was one thing he was sure of, Taltre knew he was being tortured now. So what if he was lying face down, or face up, on the wheel and letting gravity stretch his spine?

Fortunately for Taltre, he had his own construction yard to serve as a laboratory for testing his idea. Still in so much pain that his children had to do most of the work, he supervised the building of a prototype, then spent the next half a decade or so refining his design, testing it among construction workers who were subjected to the same grueling stresses and strains as he had been. The result was the BodyBridge, a realignment device which he now manufactures and sells.

To date, Taltre has shipped thousands of BodyBridges, to satisfied customers who include more sedentary workers such as massage therapists, chiropractors, members of the disabled community, and even dentists, who, surprisingly eno ugh, are now among his most avid clientele. "Dentists have to hold themselves very rigid while bending from the waist all day," he explains. "They get a lot of relief from the BodyBridge."

The current model is quite a handsome piece of equipment, nicely padded, attractively detailed, and fitted out to make the unfamiliar experience of lying with your midsection high in the air as stress-free as possible. Sturdily constructed, the BodyBridge includes handlebars for lowering and raising yourself into position, and a compact but comfortable footrest at its base which doubles as a seat to allow you to recover your equilibrium after a session (except a heady rush on your first few encounters). The basic model can be accessorized with cushions and face plates that are standard massage equipment.

Glowing Testimonials have flowed in from housewives, businessmen and health care professionals around the country,this writer among them. A few minutes on the Body Bridge convinced me that this was exactly "what the doctor ordered." The first thing I noticed was a significant shift in energy in my upper shoulder muscles. After my brief session, I felt a surge of comfort and a wave of very pleasurable sensa tions though my lower back. The after-effects lingered noticeably for another day. Since then, I've used the BodyBridge on a daily basis, and can report it has had a very perceptible beneficial effect on my lower back.

Taltre's description of the BodyBridge as "a rejuvenating machine" makes sense. It seems an uncommonly obvious solution to a host of health problems, caused by decades of bad posture and poor work habits, that often afflict mature adults in later years. So why didn't somebody think of this before? I ask Taltre. "You've got me there," the inventor, now in his 50s and the picture of health, replies. "My only regret is that I didn't think of it sooner."

BodyBridge owners tell us that a single session is often enough to convince them they've made the right decision in buying one. With your own BodyBridge you won't have to endure another day of back pain!