The Spinal Engine: Why Moving Your Spine Might Be the Key to Beating Back Pain

Low back pain is one of the most common issues we see at Athletic Potential PT—especially among athletes, active adults, and people who’ve been told to just "rest and stretch" their way through it. But here's the truth: your spine isn’t meant to be still—it’s meant to move.

I’m Dylan Newcomer, physical therapist and founder of Athletic Potential in Kent, WA, and I want to reframe the way you think about back pain. The solution isn’t always more stability or more stretching—sometimes, it’s about relearning how to use your spine like it was designed: as a dynamic engine for movement.

What Is the Spinal Engine?

The spinal engine theory, developed by Dr. Serge Gracovetsky, suggests that the spine plays a central role in generating movement—especially during walking, running, and athletic activity. Rather than being a passive structure that just holds you upright, your spine is an active part of motion, working in concert with your pelvis, rib cage, and limbs.

Here’s the key idea: Your spine is supposed to rotate. That natural rotation of your thoracic and lumbar spine creates a chain reaction that helps propel your body forward, absorb impact, and maintain balance.

When the spine is stiff, guarded, or shut down, the rest of the body has to compensate—and that’s when pain, tightness, and dysfunction show up.

Why Back Pain Isn’t Always a "Back Problem"

Many people with back pain are told to "protect the spine" with bracing, rest, or avoiding certain movements. While that may be necessary in the short term after injury, long-term avoidance of spinal movement creates a bigger problem:

Over-reliance on the hips
Decreased rib cage and pelvic mobility
Poor rotational control (especially in sports)
Ongoing tightness and weakness of the low back and spinal accessory muscles from underuse

Your spine is meant to twist, flex, extend, and rotate. When we lose that ability, we overload the very structures we're trying to protect.

How We Treat Back Pain Differently at Athletic Potential PT

At Athletic Potential PT in Kent, we take a movement-based, whole-body approach to low back pain. Rather than just treating the site of pain, we restore spinal mobility, core sequencing, and rotational control so the body can move the way it was built to.

Our Approach:

Spinal Mobility Work – We use segmental mobilizations, active spinal drills, and breathwork to reintroduce controlled motion through the thoracic and lumbar spine.
Pelvis & Rib Cage Integration – We help retrain the relationship between the hips, spine, and ribs—often the missing link in chronic low back pain cases.
Dynamic Core Training – Instead of rigid bracing, we train the core to adapt, rotate, and stabilize dynamically—just like in real life or sport.
Functional Movement Re-Education – We teach your body to move as a coordinated system, using walking, running, and throwing mechanics to re-integrate spinal motion.

Move Your Spine, Heal Your Back

Still think moving your spine is dangerous? Think again.

Spinal motion isn’t the cause of your pain—it’s likely the cure. We see it every week in our Kent clinic: people who’ve been avoiding motion out of fear start to move again—with guidance—and suddenly their pain improves, their posture changes, and they feel more like themselves again.

Back Pain Help in Kent, WA

If you're dealing with chronic back pain, limited rotation, or recurring tightness that never seems to go away, we can help. At Athletic Potential PT, we specialize in working with athletes and active adults in the Seattle area who want a smarter, movement-based solution to back pain.