Abstract: A therapeutic unloading apparatus and method for exercising specific amounts of body weight in an upright position without overloading healing tissue. A support frame is provided to which is attached an automatic winch. The winch is attached to a spring, the spring is attached to a harness cable and thence to a harness. A user is tightly secured within the harness and a load cell is utilized to determine how much weight to unload from the patient/user. After the predetermined amount of weight has been unloaded it is set. Because the load cell is connected to the winch, a constant unloaded value is maintained throughout the range of normal to aggressive exercising for the injured patient. The normal exercising motions of a quick to fast walk, to run, to jog results in multiple vertical oscillations. By means of the spring dampener and the automatic outlay and intake of cable by means of the winch, a constant load is maintained on the user and hence the injury.