Correct Anterior Pelvic Tilt By Doing These Exercises & Stretches
Before we can correct anterior pelvic tilt, we should first understand WHAT it is, WHY it isn’t good, and WHAT causes it.
When we have all of this information, fixing this issue will be much easier.
In case you DO know all this though and just want to know how to fix it, I did do a couple Videos below on fixing anterior pelvic tilt.
So, What Is Anterior Pelvic Tilt Anyways?
It is when your pelvis essentially is tilting too far forward in your body.
In the above picture, the left person is normal. His pelvis is well aligned with the rest of his body.
However, the right person is not normal. He has a forward tilted pelvis.
To understand why this is an issue, think of your body as a CHAIN.
You remember that song as a kid, “Your thigh bone is connected to your….Hip bone” and on and on….
Well, pretty much, your whole body is interconnected.
Essentially, this means that what happens at one part of your body is going to affect you elsewhere.
So, when your pelvis is tilting too far forward, like the guy on the right, it’s going to affect you up above and down below.
Up above, it can mean the curves of your spine become affected and go out of alignment.
Down below, it can mean your knees caving in more, and your feet losing their arch and becoming flatter.
Certainly, these are things you want to avoid if you can. You want to be more like that guy on the left!
Now, let’s discuss the symptoms of this briefly to know more about why this is an issue in your body.
Anterior Pelvic Tilt Symptoms
A major symptom of this is lower back pain.
When you understand what I’m about to tell you, it will be clear why lower back pain is associated with a forward tilted pelvis.
Looking at the body, what rests ON TOP of your pelvis? It is your spine!
So when your pelvis is tilted forward more, your spine is being dragged forwards as well. This can then cause more compression in your lower back, which will lead to back pain.
Besides this happening, you will also tend to develop more of a hunched back with forward head posture.
Basically, when the region of your spine above your pelvis gets dragged forward more, your upper back will compensate. It will compensate by going backwards more, like you see in the above picture.
Then to further compensate, your head will move forward more.
This can mean your muscles fatiguing faster, shoulder and neck pain, and back pain as well.
How does anterior pelvic tilt affect you down below then?
Well, as I will explain further in my video, when your pelvis tilts forward more, your thighs rotate inwards.
This then causes your knees to cave in, causing knee pain. Also, the arches of your feet can then collapse down, leading to flat feet and foot pain.
So, it is possible for this to affect your entire body!
So you see, anterior pelvic tilt symptoms can lead to joint pain and muscle pain up above and down below.
Now that you know WHY it is bad, it is time to address the CAUSE of this!
Anterior Pelvic Tilt Causes
A massive cause of this is SITTING TOO MUCH!
When you sit a lot, your hips are flexed.
As you can imagine, doing this constantly each day can lead to issues.
For one, your hip flexor muscles can become VERY TIGHT over time.
These muscles include your Iliopsoas….
As well as your Rectus Femoris….
When these muscles get tight from you sitting so much, this is one of the HUGE anterior pelvic tilt causes.
When these muscles do become very stiff, they will pull your pelvis forwards more. So, sitting a lot throughout the day and not stretching can certainly bring this about.
Also when you sit, your Glute muscles are getting stretched. Additionally, if you are sedentary, you aren’t really working out this muscle.
It is beneficial to have a strong Gluteus Maximus because it will tilt your pelvis BACKWARDS more. This will bring you out of an excessively forward position if you are in one.
So, I hope you are seeing now why sitting on your butt so much is NOT good for you. When the Gluteus Maximus muscle is weak, you will go into more of a forward pelvic tilt.
Also, when you sit a lot and don’t exercise, your abs will weaken over time. This is also something you will WANT to avoid happening to you.
When your abs are strong, they tilt your pelvis backwards more. Weak abs will cause you to go into more of a forward pelvic tilt.
NOW that we’ve gone over what causes an anterior pelvic tilt, let’s go over how to fix it!
First, we’ll go over stretches. Then, we will go over exercises.
Anterior Pelvic Tilt Stretches
Remember how up above I said that sitting REALLY tightens your hip flexor muscles over time?
To correct anterior pelvic tilt position, you will want to stretch these muscles.
I will be showing a video down below on HOW to do this. Let me first explain briefly.
First, you will want to stretch the Rectus Femoris muscle I mentioned above.
You can do that by doing this stretch below.
Essentially, you stand straight while holding onto something. Then, grab one ankle and bring your leg back. Your knee should be pointing straight down towards the ground. Also, you should be upright with your body and not bending forward.
Next, you will want to stretch your Iliopsoas muscle.
You can stretch this muscle doing the below stretch.
Essentially, you get into a kneeling position with one leg back and lean forward with one knee.
To demonstrate, here is a video! Remember to leave a Thumbs Up if you like it!
Do the two stretches I clearly demonstrate in that video and it will help out a lot!
NOW, let’s go into strengthening exercises you can do to correct anterior pelvic tilt.
Read More Below…
Anterior Pelvic Tilt Exercises
The muscles you will want to strengthen now will be your abs and glutes. REMEMBER, these muscles help to tilt your pelvis backwards more. This is why it is going to be so important to build up the strength in these muscles. The exercises I will explain in this video will likely be familiar. However, this video is going to summarize VERY well just why a forward positioned pelvis is bad and what you can do to correct anterior pelvic tilt.
In the video I’m about to show you, I also explain how to stretch your Erector Spinae muscles. If these muscles are tight, they can also cause a forward pelvic tilt.
Even though I did this video in my bed due to recovering from surgery, I still explain things very well and show pictures.
If you like the video, it is also greatly appreciated if you leave it a Thumbs Up on YouTube! Share it with your friends too if you like!
Concluding How To Correct Anterior Pelvic Tilt
Essentially, you are going to want to do 4 things.
Stretch your hip flexor muscles.
Stretch your erector spinae muscles.
Strengthen your abs.
Strengthen your hamstrings and glutes.
By doing the above things, you will be well on your way!
As an added note, correcting poor posture positions will help as well. If you are sitting for more than an hour straight at a time, you will want to get up and walk around for about 5 minutes. This will help to get you out of that constant bad sitting posture and correct anterior pelvic tilt position.
Also, besides this bad pelvic position, you also want to avoid a POSTERIOR pelvis. I actually wrote an article on an exercise to get out of a backward pelvic tilt if you are curious.
If you enjoyed this article, it would be GREATLY appreciated if you left a comment down below!