3 Stretches To Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Having a anterior pelvic tilt can lead to lower back pain and poor posture. Reason why we get this effect is due to our daily routine.

Let's start off with understanding what anterior pelvic tilt is and what will happen when you do not treat the condition.

Picture to the far left indicates normal or healthy posture. It is never perfect, however, it is ideal to have your ear, shoulder, hip and ankle as close to straight line as possible, when standing straight.

Picture in the middle has more posterior or backward push of the hip. This is actually a pelvis is rotated forward like bucket is tilted forward. This tilt creates pressure to the lower back and cause tension and pain.

When not treated, body will start shifting to relieve the pressure and pain in the back and gradually look like picture to the right.

Reason why pelvis tilt forward is mainly due to tightness of quadriceps, adductors, and psoas muscles.

Little bit of anatomy

• Quadriceps, especially rectus femoris, connects from front portion of hip bone down to the top of knee cap. So when this is tight, the distance between pelvis and knee has tendency to come closer. Sounds painful right?

• Adductors connects from pubis, which is lower portion of pelvis, and majority of muscles attaches long the interior of femur, or thigh bone. One muscle called gracilis, which is part of adductors connects to tibia, right below the knee.

• Psoas muscle is connecting from lower part of thoracic (T12) through lumbar (T4) then connects down to top portion of femur.

So what causes these muscles to get tight to create anterior pelvic tilt and lead to lower back pain?

Most likely this issue didn't happen overnight. It is caused by repetitive habit of long duration of sitting causing the muscles above to shortened and weakened.

When looking at the pictures to the right, there I've done 3 different types of sitting. Left picture is how we should be sitting, middle is slouch, and right is sitting that was recommended by therapist on Japanese TV show to eliminate back pain from sitting.

Let me tell you this, from mechanical stand point, none of these will solve any issues.

Reason is psoas muscle. Do you remember where the psoas muscle is attached? T12 -L4 down to your thigh bone, right? And reason why the problem happens is because of shortening and tightening of the muscles. Do you see any improvement in psoas muscle from 3 different sitting above? Not really. Middle picture is not very good to begin with but far right, the sitting technique that was shared by expert on TV is even worst. Initially you may feel comfortable and may feel like the problem is solved but in reality the psoas muscle has gotten even shorter.

How about quadriceps? Remember rectus femoris connects from front portion of pelvis? Well, look at 3 pictures and see what is happening. Shortening, which cause pelvis to be pulled forward. Actually, picture in the middle may have less shortening on quadriceps but far right is making things worst. Another reason why you should not trust everything you see on TV.

Lastly, adductors. It is hard to tell but I do have tendency to sit with knees apart. But how do most people sit? Closed knees or even worst crossed over. Why crossing leg is bad? Because of over shortening of adductors. When done few times it is not critical. Yet, when the habit of crossing leg continued for more than 10 years, there will be an issue.

So in other words, sitting for extended period time, regardless of how you sit, does cause anterior pelvic tilt, which may lead to lower back pain. However, at work or school you may need to still sit to do your work.

Here is a solution for you.

To correct issue, follow the 3 stretches below for 3 weeks and you will experience less tension in your lower back and having better mobility around your hips.

Quadriceps Stretch(20-30 seconds per leg with movement)

First stretch is for your quadriceps. Reason for this to come first is compared to other muscles it is larger and stronger and can interfere while stretching other muscles.

There are various ways of stretching quadriceps so you can find what works better for you. Key emphasis in stretching the entire quadriceps is to pushing your hip forward without changing the knee position.

Adductor Stretch (20-30 seconds per leg with movement)

Next one is adductor stretch. Important part about this stretch is keeping the stretching leg straight.

Just like quadriceps stretch there are other options that you can use. Main focus is to increase the mobility of inner hip.

Psoas Stretch (20-30 seconds per leg with movement)

The last one is psoas stretch. The video may look like quadriceps stretch but it is different. The difference is in position of the foot. By not having the foot on top of the bench I can eliminate some usage of quadriceps.

When stretching for any muscles, it is important to avoid just holding type of stretching or also known as static stretching. It is better and more effective to use movement while stretching the muscles.

The movement will not only help increase stretching effect but also help loosen the joints.

By applying these stretches on regular basis, you will see relief in pain and tension and postural improvement in few weeks. It only takes about 3-5 minutes per day so it may help to do 2-3 times per day initially to get a head start.

Let's get those lower back and hip happy, which leads to your happiness.

Kota Shimada