Pelvic Tilts: Part 2

We talked about pelvic tilts and the different ways your hip can sit in part 1. It has been a very long time coming but here is Part 2 and it is going to show you how you can go about fixing those tilts and get back into realignment. However, keep in mind that just because generally when your hamstrings are loose and your hip flexors tight, you will have an anterior tilt, each person is different. The primary reason for the tilt may be coming from the hip flexors. I will tell you what to remedy for each condition, but just keep in mind everyone is an individual. In saying that, if you do have a severe tilt either way, then it is likely all the exercises will help get rid of it. Most people stand in an anterior tilt, but sit in a posterior tilt. More about that later too!

Anterior Tilt

We know that in an anterior tilt

• Rectus Abdominus
• External Obliques
• Glutes
• Hamstrings

are in a lengthened position, which more than likely indicates they are loose and/or weak and need to be strengthened. The ab side of it can be done with these exercises

• Crunches/ Sit-up variations
• Dead Bugs
  
• Prone Holds

Do the dead bug variations until you get good at them. Check out this article on Posterior Chain strengthening to get those buns strong. This is often a big problem mainly because your hip flexors are tight in an anterior tilt, and as we well know, due to reciprocol inhibition, when your hip flexors are tight, your glutes tend to switch off.

We also know that in an anterior tilt

• Psoas
• Iliacus
• Rec Fem
• TFL

are generally in a shortened position which indicates they are tight. They may or may not be weak. We need to do some stretching and mobility work around here.

• Hip flexor stretch
• Hip flexor/ Rec Fem stretch
• Foam roll and do tennis ball work through your ITBs
• Foam Roll your quads
• Tennis ball work through your TFL
• Tennis ball work on Psoas (the end of this video shows the psoas release)

Dynamically overhead lunges are great for loosening the hip flexors, hold a plate overhead and perform lunges. Check out this post on the Psoas to understand it a lot better and how to release it, and this post on tight hips to get an indication on how to get rid of them. You will find all the pics and explanations for these exercises in these two articles. Check out my lower body tennis ball series for the tennis ball examples. Tight hip flexors will account for majority of anterior pelvic tilts, so get them loose, switch on your bum and you are laughing.

Another thing to remember regarding an anterior tilt is that the hamstrings are constantly on stretch, and in a lengthened position. This puts a fair amount of strain on them and considering they have to try to pick up the slack of the weak glutes they are generally much more injury prone.

Posterior Tilt

This is a little less common but we will run through it anyway.Posterior tilts still cause their fair share of problems. Lifting in a posterior tilt makes you way more likely to cause a disc herniation, you are simply forcing the discs backwards. It also tends to promote kyphosis, which is rounding of the shoulders, which just looks bad and causes a lot of shoulder problems.

We know that in a posterior tilt the

• Psoas
• Iliacus
• Rectus Femoris
• TFL
• Spinal Erectors

Are in a lengthened position and therefore indicates they are loose and possibly weak.

You need to do work through the front of your body, strengthening work such as squats, lunges and deadlifts are perfect for this. This is slightly trickier to isolate, so generally you should just try to shift your training to include more quad work until the tilt is fixed. It is most likely that your Psoas is weak, however it is a good idea to test that out before hand. Stand with you back against a wall, bring you knee up as high as you can and hold it there, if it drops below 90 degrees before 20 seconds then your psoas is probably weak (test from t-nation.com). Remember it can be weak and tight. The Psoas test also acts as a good starting point to strengthen it. Add some back extensions in as your lower back may be weak and you want to make sure it is stable.

We also know that the

• Rectus Abdominus
• External Obliques
• Gluteals
• Hamstrings

are often in a shortened position therefore indicating they are tight.

• Foam roll and tennis ball the glutes
• Foam roll and tennis ball the hamstrings
• Stretch glutes and hamstrings
• Perform a back extension from the floor, push up fom your arms to strech your abs, but be careful that this does not aggravate your back. Generally it will be fine.

The thing is, if you have a balanced program, don’t sit down all down and stretch and do your mobility work, you are going a very long way to preventing tilts ever happening. Remember most people tend to be in an anterior tilt, and most of the time it actually isn’t that disastrous, but it often tends to come from tight hip flexors, from sitting down all day n a posterior tilt position! Stand up, walk around and stretch occasionally and avoid any problems all together.