Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Author: Claude Borel

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What is an anterior pelvic tilt?

An anterior pelvic tilt results from several muscle imbalances. It affects mostly people who sit a lot in their chairs and just have a sedentary lifestyle in general.

It's a condition where the hips are pulled forward and you end up with a protruding butt and an excessive lumbar curve.Basically you will need to stretch different muscles in order to get the balance right again.

Strengthening

I worked with a kinesiologist specialized in posture and she told me that the way that physical therapists and kinesiologists used to treat the problem turned out to be a total failure.

She helped me fix my anterior pelvic tilt and also my rounded shoulders and there was no strengthening of any kindinvolved, it was all stretching and mobilizing.The following stretches are the best that I have found and have made huge progress because of them.

Trigger Points

Trigger points are really sensitive points in the muscle that need to be released before stretching.How do you find these triggers points? Use a tennis ball or a baseball and locate the part of the muscle that is exceedingly sensitive. You know it is a sensitive point because it hurts a lot but also because usually the pain will travel to another part of the body.

For example, the pain you feel when pressing a trigger point in the hamstrings could go down the entire leg. This is a sign of chronic tension.

Massage those trigger points pressing on them and doing micro circular movements on them. Do that for 2 minutesbefore each stretch.

Culprits Of Anterior Pelvic Tilt

The main culprits are tensed up lower back, hip flexors, quadriceps, hamstrings, calves and piriformis. Some of these muscles are short and tight others are long and tight, it doesn't matter they are all tight and thus weak muscles.

They lack flexibility which means that they lack the capacity to change The flexibility of a joint is dependent upon the extensibility (ability to extend without causing tissue damage) and elasticity (ability of muscle to return to its original size and shape after being stretched or shortened) of the structures surrounding it (e.g. the ligaments and fibrous joint capsule).

Hip flexor and psoas

The hip flexors and the psoas pull the hips forward and create an anterior pelvic tilt. These are one of the main culprits. So here goes the first stretch, do the exercises in that particular order:

Put yourself in a lunge position

Lean Forward

Raise Arm to increase stretch

Lower Back Stretch

When the hips are pulled forward the butt is inhibited and the lower back has to compensate for this weakness and do double the work which manifests itself as lower back tightness.

Starting Position

Let yourself go down to the side

Roll top shoulder forward and lean further to the side

Reach arm off the body as far as possible

Roll top shoulder even further forward

Full Video

Quadriceps Stretch

If you have tight quadriceps it can affect the tigthness of the hip flexors which pull the hips forward. The squeleton is a kinetic chain. If the quadriceps pull a joint out of alignement then that will affect the position of the joint next to it etc...

Starting position

While tucked lean forward

press ball of foot

Drag knee forward

Advanced Hip Flexor Stretch

It's important to do the advanced hip flexor stretch before the hamstring stretch (the next exercise) because if your hip flexors are tight you will experience pain in the front of the hip while doing it calledhip impingement.

You will feel a crushing or bony sensation, for most people, the HFs are too hard (tight) to get out of the way and this is necessary for any of the P. stretches. You need a strong stretch like this one in order to loosen up the hip flexors, they are one of the main culprits in anterior pelvic tilt.

If you use Kit Laughlin's method to stretch your HF you will not only lengthen it, but will help diminish the resting tonus of the muscle in any position which will make it softer.

This means that when it gets crushed by something like the hamstring or piriformis stretch, it simply softly moves out of the way.

Starting Position

Pull yourself forward

Drag knee forward

Straighten back leg

Drag whole back leg forward

Hamstring Stretch

When the butt is weak the hamstrings have to tighten to compensate. Chronic tightness then appears. This is maybe one of the hardest body parts to stretch because it is particularly resistant to change.

I've noticed there is a lot of fear involved because there is a dread of tearing your hamstrings. If you go on with too much force and impatience, the muscles will tighten even more the next day. The body reacts as if it were attacked so you have to go about it very gently. That is my experience.

You should be in a comfortable position at all times, if it feels like too intense a sensation it probably is and you will pay for it the next day. Go about it progressively, once you don't feel a stretch anymore go deeper into the exercise and so on.

Starting position

Press your abdominals against your thigh and push leg forward using quadriceps

Bring hips back

Pull back heel to bottom

Pull heel straight downward

Increase the stretch even more by pushing with quadricep muscles

Wall calf stretch

The calf is one of the muscles that get tight when there is an anterior pelvic tilt. Along with the hamstrings they get tight in order to compensate for your butt weakness.

Take a small step towards the wall

Lean in towards the wall

Put a small bend in the knee

Piriformis Stretch

When you sit too much the hip flexors and the adductors get too short and the butt becomes inhibited when you slouch in your chair with your hips rotated outward it puts a lot of strain on your low back and makes your hips so tight that you create an imbalance in the entire system

Starting position

Press hip on the floor

Lift the chest along the leg and bring knee closer to armpit

One legged downward dog stretch

This is the most advanced exercise of this article. You need to master all the previous exercises to be able to do this correctly and get optimal results.

This is a very important stretch for your calf muscles and the whole inner fascia.This is THE KEY to ankle and calf flexibility, tight calves are a by-product of the pelvis tilting forward and a way for the body to compensate for an inhibited or inactive butt so it makes sense to stretch this muscle and the whole inner fascia in order to go in reverse and counter the anterior pelvic tilt.

Starting position

Stick bum out

Bring leg higher and move armpits toward toes (maintain hips level)

Push heel to the ground

Important Points

Always massage with a tennis ball or a lacrosse ball, if you can take it, before stretching for optimal results.

If you feel that a muscle is being stubborn and you can't seem to progress no matter what you do I have discoveredthat it is best to leave it and do another stretch.

The body has its own logic, it is saying to you that you are not ready or meant to stretch this particular muscle at this particular time. Don't be stubborn and listen to your body it knows best.

What is an anterior pelvic tilt?StrengtheningTrigger PointsCulprits Of Anterior Pelvic TiltHip flexor and psoasLower Back StretchFull VideoQuadriceps StretchAdvanced Hip Flexor StretchHamstring StretchWall calf stretchPiriformis StretchOne legged downward dog stretchImportant Points