The goal of this study was to evaluate the effect of axial compression, applied by a follower load mechanism, on the response of the lumbar spine in flexion bending at flexion angles approaching failure. It characterised lumbar spine flexion and compression-displacement response while exploring sex differences and specimen degradation during testing. Seven adult lumbar post-mortem human subject (PMHS) spines (T12-S1) were tested in flexion bending with and without superimposed axial compression. Tests were performed by a 6- DOF robotic test system using a sequential loading matrix up to the point of failure. Load-deformation response data were used to characterise the kinetic response of the lumbar spine in flexion and compression. Individual vertebral kinematics were documented using 3D motion capture for bending deformation and specimen change analysis. This study found:​ (1) the response in kinetics and kinematics of the PMHS lumbar spine changes due to repeated loading;​ (2) total spine flexion angle is unevenly distributed across individual joints;​ (3) the kinetic response is stiffer with compression at low angles, but the stiffness is similar with and without axial compression approaching the failure threshold.