Works Well, But Very Difficult to Assemble
At first I wrote a negative 1-star review because I simply could not get this thing assembled. I am a petite woman (5'1", 120 lbs) and have small and somewhat weak hands from carpal tunnel surgery years ago. This thing takes a LOT of hand and upper body strength to bend the fairly rigid plastic into the slot it needs to lock into. (I even briefly considered putting it in the oven on a low temp to soften it, but quickly realized that that might ruin the back stretcher and/or my oven, and potentially end in disaster!) Instead, I kept working on it each day a little at a time, trying different approaches and bending it as far as I could by kneeling on it, pulling the ends upward and holding for as long as I could (usually about 30 seconds). After about a week, this actually made it pliable enough that I could FINALLY get it locked into place on the first level.<br /><br />I was then able to use it for the first time and I must admit -- it really did help my back! I felt much better after only about 5 minutes the first time I used it. However, the raised bumps along the edge of the slot where your spine fits were somewhat uncomfortable. I really don't understand why those bumps are there -- the thing would work just as well without them and would be way more comfortable.<br /><br />So now I'm glad I didn't return it as I was thinking about doing when I first got it and couldn't put it together. But because of how difficult it is to assemble (probably not too difficult for people with larger hands and better grip strength) and because of the uncomfortable raised bumps, I gave it 4 stars instead of 5.
Rating: 4 stars