A Spinal Fitness Evaluation at Spinal Fitness Health and Wellness Center in Kennewick, WA is a 60-minute appointment priced at $150, and the Spinal Fitness Training sessions that follow it run 20 minutes at $50 each. Both are booked with Eileen Durfee, the inventor of the Spinal Fitness system, at 214 E. Albany Ave, Building E101, Kennewick, WA 99336. This article covers what the method’s screen checks, the order the 5 steps are taught in, and the starting dose the book sets for each step. New visitors can come in any Thursday between 2 and 6 PM for a free session, and members keep 24/7 access with a door code once their training is complete.
What the screen checks
Eileen’s book, Spinal Fitness, defines its screen as “a screening and coaching tool – not a diagnosis,” and states that it runs in 5 to 7 minutes. It looks for 3 patterns: a forward head, a flattened lumbar curve, and trunk mass sitting forward of the hips. The side-view check is whether the ear, the shoulder and the greater trochanter stack in 1 vertical line. By palpation, the book states that in good posture the neck, the low back and the hamstrings “should feel supple and relatively relaxed.” A vertical jump is a further check: a balanced body lands in approximately the same spot it left.
The book scores what the screen finds on the SFAI index, a scale from 0 to 5, and sets an order of correction that it calls not optional: pelvis before spine, spine before head. The book states that each inch of forward head position adds approximately 10 pounds of effective load to the cervical spine.
When the screen stops a session
The red flags the book lists include changes in bowel or bladder control, saddle anesthesia, progressive neurological weakness such as foot drop or rapidly worsening grip strength, unrelenting night pain, fever or chills with spinal pain, recent significant trauma, and severe radiating pain that does not settle. Its instruction for any of these is to stop the session, document what was observed, and refer the person to a medical provider.
A person whose symptoms are highly irritable starts with Step 5 only. The book states that Back Trac rolling, the sit-up and the pelvic tilt wait until irritability has dropped to moderate or lower, with a re-screen after 2 to 3 sessions before progressing.
The 5 steps, in the order they are taught
All 5 steps in the system work from the anterior direction. The book’s reason is a figure from Dr. John S. Scherger’s analysis: resisting a posterior force creates more than 1,200 pounds of compression at the L5-S1 joint just from stabilizing a 100-pound upper body, in proper and improper posture alike.
Step 1, Back Trac rolling. The roller has a full-length groove so the spinous processes float while its 2 lobes contact the muscles on either side of the spine. The starting dose is 30 to 60 seconds of easy passes, or 6 to 10 slow passes, once a day, progressing to morning and evening use for a few minutes per session. The book starts with the medium-density roller and moves to the hard density only after comfort and control improve.
Step 2, the pelvic tilt over a fulcrum. The hips rest in the cushion’s cutout with the lumbar spine from L4 upward on the supported surface and both legs fully extended. The book’s model applies approximately 70 pounds vertically through the anterior superior iliac spines, and Scherger’s shear figures run from 149 pounds at S-L5 down to 7 pounds at L1-T12. The book’s warehouse standard uses 10 reps.
Step 3, the sit-up over the PowerCushion. It starts at about 45 degrees with the buttocks against the cushion and zero gap, and the recline goes only as far as the neck stays neutral. The book’s proper-posture figures for this exercise are 170 pounds of effort and zero total shear across 6 joints. The starting dose is 6 to 10 reps at a light density.
Step 4, neck flexion. The beginner dose is 6 reps per session, 6 sessions per day, moving to 10 reps when 6 no longer produce strain. The cue is a nod at the C5 level, as when agreeing with someone; the book’s caution is that beginners may move only 1 or 2 inches at first and must not push the face forward.
Step 5, the spinal twist and the Shaper rolls. The twist is 25 reps seated, counting left and right as 1 rep, followed immediately by supported rest on the Neck and Back Shaper rolls. The book caps that rest at 18 to 20 minutes and states that the twist always comes before it.
How the dose progresses
The book’s rule at every step is “Strain is okay. Pain is a stop.” Dose moves up in reps, range or density only when the current dose no longer produces the intended strain, or when form is cleaner with less compensation than in the previous session; the book adds that enthusiasm is not a progression criterion. It names frequency as the most powerful of 3 dosing levers, ahead of duration and intensity.
The book’s desk standard spreads the steps across a working day: a 2 to 4 minute prime with 6 neck flexion reps, micro-breaks of 10 to 30 seconds every 45 to 60 minutes, a 3 to 5 minute mid-shift reset, and a 15 to 20 minute decompression at home. Scherger’s broad model puts the total effort of holding a load at 77 pounds in proper structure against 1,166 pounds in improper structure, a 15-to-1 difference, with compression of 1,218 pounds against 2,708. The book’s summary is “structure first, strength second.”
Who you are booking with
Evaluations and training sessions are booked against Eileen Durfee’s own calendar. She is a Certified Personal Trainer (NASM-CPT), has worked in the health field since 2010, and built the Spinal Fitness system on the teaching of Dr. John S. Scherger, D.C. (1950-2016), her chiropractor and mentor, to whom the book attributes the mathematics of the S-shaped spine. Group Spinal Fitness sessions are also published on the training page: 20 minutes at $35, or 6 sessions for $180.
Prices and booking
The evaluation is $150. One-on-one training is $50 for a single 20-minute session, $250 for 6 sessions. Visits are by appointment; call or text 509-670-9713, evenings and weekends included. The center sits in Building E101 at 214 East Albany Avenue in Kennewick, Washington, and serves Kennewick, Pasco, Richland, West Richland, Benton City and Walla Walla. Members hold round-the-clock access through a door code issued after their training is complete. Each Thursday from 2 PM to 6 PM the center opens for new visitors to enjoy a free session of BioCharger NG, the 7 Wave light panel, Brown’s Gas, PEMF and the hot sauna exercise room; evaluations and training are booked with Eileen.
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This article is for educational purposes only. The Spinal Fitness screen is a screening and coaching tool for general well-being. Spinal Fitness Health and Wellness Center is a wellness facility; tell us about any injury or medical condition at the evaluation.
