Ladies, this is one for us. I see an anterior pelvic tilt with many of my clients, and particularly with pregnant/postnatal ladies. It doesn’t always cause issues, but with low back pain, hip pain, ankle issues, we always want to have a look at how the pelvis is moving.
If you have an anterior tilt (tipping forwards at the front, causing a more pronounced lumbar curve or lordosis) you compress the lumbar spine and lose mobility in these vertebrae. Backs don’t like that; those vertebral discs really want to be able to open up.
What sorts of things will we be looking at to try and encourage your pelvis out of this anterior tilt? There are a number of exercises we can do to encourage the pelvis to roll correctly, but before that we need to look at where you may need release, where you may need more strength, etc. These are a few of the things we will consider:
- Are your anterior tilt muscles OVERACTIVE?
That’s rectus femoris (quads), lumbar paraspinals and psoas.
2. Are your posterior tilt muscles UNDERACTIVE?
That’s hamstrings, glute max, rectus abdominus, and the obliques (obliques are SO important).
3. Are you OVERPRONATED?
Stand and flatten your feet. Notice what happens to your pelvis? It tilts anteriorly! Working to get your foot to be able to control pronation properly, and move in to supination, can play an important part in correcting an anterior tilt and thus getting a longer term solution to back and hip pain.
If you are keen to explore these relationships and would like support with massage and NKT at Brighton Bodyworks, please get in touch. Call 01273 729691 or you can read more here.