This college soccer player is using this hanging weight to target these small back muscles to improve core stability and fix her back pain. Let me explain. Katie had back pain with many of my tests, like landing from a jump on her heels. However, if I asked her to stiffen her core and then drop, she no longer had pain. But why? You see, when you drop quickly under heels, you create spine compression. But when someone has back pain with this test, sometimes the vertebrae will slide to the side a bit unevenly, loading the disc and the facet joints on the backside. When you brace your core by engaging your ABS laterally, you enhance the activation of all the muscles that surround the spine, like guy wire to a radio tower, limiting those painful micro movements. When you hang a lightweight off a stick, it bounces around slightly, requiring your core react and stabilize the spine sufficiently. I start most people with just 10 pounds on one side and have them perform three trips down and back before switching the weight to the other side.