Is Spooning Really The Best Sexual Position For Back Pain Patients?

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
If the act of having sex is becoming a pain in the back (literally, not figuratively), you might be interested to know that, contrary to popular belief, spooning is not the best position to use when getting intimate with your significant other, according to researchers from the Spine Biomechanics Laboratory at University of Waterloo in Ontario.
[ Watch the Video: Groundbreaking Study Reveals Best Positions To Save Your Spine During Sex ]
Writing in the September 15 edition of the journal Spine, authors Natalie Sidorkewicz and Dr. Stuart M. McGill recruited 10 healthy, young couples in established relationships. Each couple was asked to perform five different sex positions (two variations of the missionary position, two variations of the quadruped or hands-and-knees position, and a spooning position) in random order.
The researchers then used motion capture technology to track to movement of each person’s spine, and then measured spinal motion and estimated the strain on the male partner’s spine for each of the five positions. The results showed a tremendous variation in terms of the rate and extent of spinal movement, and the recommendations for back pain patients would depend on which movements triggered discomfort, they explained.
“Spooning had previously been considered a one-position-fits-all for both men and women with back pain,” Sidorkewicz told Abby Phillip of The Washington Post on Wednesday. “That ignores the fact that there are different kinds of back pain triggered by different kinds of movements.”
For instance, in cases of flexion-intolerant pain (which is induced by bending the spine forwards), a quadruped position in which the woman supports her weight using her elbows and knees would place the least strain on the male partner’s spine, followed by the missionary position with the man using his hands to support his upper body.
When it comes to the spooning position, they found that it produced the greatest amount of strain on the spine of the male partner if they were flexion-intolerant. Those findings contradict the existing assumption that spooning was best for all patients with lower back pain, but Sidorkewicz said that those claims were not supported by scientific evidence.
“Before now, spooning was often recommended by physicians as the one position that fit all. But as we’ve discovered, that is not the case. Sex positions that are suitable for one type of back pain aren’t appropriate for another kind of pain,” she told The Telegraph.
“For the first time ever, we now have very solid science to guide clinicians on their recommendations for patients who suffer debilitating back pain, but still want to be intimate. This has the potential to improve quality of life – and love-life – for many couples,” Sidorkewicz added.
She and McGill plan to publish research about the impact of sexual intercourse on the female spine in the near future, and afterwards, the next phase of the research will involve recruiting patients with hip pain and additional categories of back pain to further develop the guidelines.
The study authors said they hope that this work will help open the channels of sex-related communication between patients suffering from back pain and their doctors, writing, “Many health care practitioners feel uncomfortable discussing their client’s sexual needs or do not address these needs at all. Perhaps the provision of recommendations qualified with empirical data will not only substantiate their clinical advice, but also facilitate dialogue between health care practitioners and their patients regarding this important issue.”