Spine Health: When Unloading and Loading Are Beneficial Steps
Channel: Synergy+ Physical Therapy & Pilates Studio
Date: 10/10/2023

Who can benefit from unloading versus loading on the spine? 

I consider anybody who's had a disc injury to have a history of low back issues, I prefer not to put them in a loaded spine position. My goal with them is always to unload the spine. 

Anybody with muscle pain or strain. A muscle strain shows the inability to resist the forces of the compression or the work that they've been put under. 

For people with SI joint dysfunction and pain, I really never load them either. So, I'm always working to unload and lengthen their spine. 

People who are weak in their core, obese, or hypermobile. If we put them in a lot of loaded positions they're just not going to be able to have the strength to keep from really loading a lot more than we want them to. 

I have an assumption that people over the age of 65 have some degenerative changes.  Those people probably have a little bit less space between their vertebrae, and the discs are less juicy. It's going to be a lot harder for them to sustain loads.  

For those with osteoporosis, it's directly contra-indicated to put them in the loaded flexion.

And then people who complain of episodes of their low back "going out". Right? What does that mean? I don't really know other than we know that they have these episodes. Granted, there's a huge variation on the kind of episode that people have with low back pain, but I would be very cautious with somebody who says: "oh, yeah, every once in a while my back goes out and I have to stay home for 2 days or I have troubles for 5 days!"  about loading their spine