How To Fix Anterior Pelvic Tilt Posture – 10 Exercises

Anterior pelvic tilt fix

Anterior pelvic tilt (aka lower crossed syndrome) is a common condition that affects many of my patients.

A study published in Manual Therapy found that up to 85% of males and up to 75% of females have an anterior pelvic tilt, even if they’re not experiencing symptoms.

If you’ve ever been told that your butt sticks out or that your stomach protrudes, chances are you have an anterior pelvic tilt (APT).

The good news is that there are a variety of stretches and strengthening exercises that you can do to correct your pelvic positioning and regain a pain-free, neutral pelvic alignment. Note: we have covered posterior pelvic tilt separately here.

What is Anterior Pelvic Tilt? And why it’s bad for you.

An anterior pelvic tilt means that your pelvis is rotated forward. The forward positioning of your pelvis forces the curve in your lower back to adopt a more extended position, known as hyperlordosis.

This posture is sometimes referred to as the “Donald Duck” posture!

anterior pelvic tilt image

Not only is an anterior pelvic tilt unsightly, it can lead to a variety of problems, including:

  • Decreased athletic performance.
  • Decreased spinal movement.
  • Increased pressure on spinal vertebrae, which can lead to facet joint irritation, stress fractures, increasedintervertebral disc pressure, and disc degeneration.
  • Chronic pain of the back, hips, knees, and ankles (and sometimes the feet)
  • Sciatica symptoms
  • Causes of Anterior pelvic tilt

What Causes Anterior Pelvic Tilt?

The most common culprit for developing an anterior pelvic tilt is sitting, incorrectly, for prolonged periods of time.

With today’s sedentary lifestyle, more and more people spend countless hours sitting at a computer all day, and when you sit at a computer, you tend to sit forwards in your chair. This body posture places your pelvis in an anterior position. Over time, the muscles of your lower body adapt to this incorrect posture and this leads to a chronic anterior pelvic tilt.

Other causes of anterior pelvic tilt include: – Improper standing posture (standing with locked knees) – Obesity – Pregnancy

How To Correct Anterior Pelvic Tilt

Anterior pelvic tilt is caused by a muscular imbalance in the lower region of the body that involves a pattern of weakness and tightness in the muscles in the front and back of the lower body.

This muscle imbalance causes the pelvis to rotate anteriorly, as the tightened muscles exert a stronger force compared to the weakened muscles, which moves your pelvic out of it’s neutral position into an anterior position.

In order to fix an anterior pelvic tilt, it’s important to correct the muscle imbalance by both stretching the tightened muscles and strengthening the weakened muscles. That being said, you’ll want to stretch your hip flexors and back extensors and strengthen your abdominal and gluteal muscles to help regain a neutral pelvic position.

5 Stretches To Correct Anterior Pelvic Tilt:

1. Kneeling Hip Flexor Stretch

kneeling hip flexor This stretch helps to lengthen tightened hip flexors that are often seen in individuals with anterior pelvic tilt.

How to do it: – Begin this stretch by kneeling on a soft surface. – Bring your right leg in front and place your foot flat on the ground so that your knee is positioned over your ankle. – Your left knee should remain in contact with the soft surface and should be bent at 90 degrees. – Slowly slide your right foot forward a few inches while bracing your core. – Squeeze your right gluteal muscles and shift your hips forward. – Your left knee should now be bent slightly more than 90 degrees. – Hold the end position for 10 seconds. – Aim for 10 repetitions of this stretch and perform it on both sides.

2. Child’s Pose

childs pose This stretch releases the back muscles such as Latissimus dorsi – which is usually tight during anterior pelvic tilt.

How to do it: – Begin by positioning yourself on the floor on your hands and knees with your knees slightly wider than your hips. – Turn your toes inwards to touch and push your hips backwards while bending your knees. – Once you’re in a comfortable position, straighten your arms forward and allow your head to fall forwards into a relaxed position. – Hold this position for 15 to 20 seconds. – Slowly return to the starting position. – Aim for 3 repetitions.

3. Cat & Cow

cat and cow stretch This stretch helps to stretch out the tightened muscles in the back (Erector Spinae) that accompany anterior pelvic tilt.

How to do it: – Begin this stretch on your hands and knees. – Inhale and let your stomach “drop” towards the floor as you look up towards the ceiling. – Exhale and slowly round your spine while pressing into the floor with your hands and slightly curving your neck to look at your feet. – Aim for 5 repetitions of this stretch.

4. Warrior 2 Pose

warrior pose This pose helps to strengthen the legs, and opens up the hips, including the TFL muscle.

How to do it: – From the Five Pointed Star position, turn your right toes towards the wall on your right and bend your right knee over your right ankle. – Turn your hips and shoulders towards the front and reach out towards the walls on your side. – Turn and look towards your right middle finger. – Press into your feet while keeping your legs strong. – Sink your hips down towards the floor and reach for the top of your head to help lengthen your spine. – Relax your shoulders down and back and press your chest forwards. – Hold this position for up to 60 seconds. – Slowly straighten your legs and turn your feet forwards, coming back into the 5 pointed star position.

5. Double Knee to Chest

knees to chest This stretch helps to relieve tension in the lower back by stretching the muscles (Spine extensors) that are often tightened in individuals with anterior pelvic tilt.

How to do it: – Begin by lying on your back on a mat with your knees bent and feet placed flat on the floor. – Position your right hand behind your right knee and slowly pull your right knee in towards your chest and then bring your left knee in towards your chest. – Hold this position for 15 to 20 seconds. – Relax and slowly lower one leg at a time to the starting position. – Aim for 3 repetitions of this stretch.

Now, 5 Strengthening exercises to correct it:

1. Plank

plank

This exercise is ideal for strengthening both your deep core and gluteal muscles.

How to do it: Begin lying on your stomach with your forearms against the mat. – Engage your core and lift your body so that you are resting on your forearms and toes. – Ensure that your spine is in a neutral spinal position (not sagging in low back, or lifting butt in the air). – Hold the plank position for 20-30 sec, Then lower down to floor. – Aim for 2 to 5 repetitions of this exercise. ** Ensure to keep your back straight throughout the entire exercise.

2. Glute Bridge

glute bridge

This exercise helps to strengthen both your core, gluteal and back muscles.

How to do it:

Begin lying on your back on the floor with your knees bent and feet positioned flat on the floor with your arms positioned beside your torso. – Brace your core and squeeze your butt before any movement. – While bracing, lift your butt off the floor, and continue squeezing your butt. – Hold this position for 5 seconds and return slowly to the starting position. – Aim for 10 repetitions. **Don’t hyperextend during this movement, you should feel your glutes firing.

3. Squats squats

This full-body exercise helps to strengthen your gluteals, hamstrings, and back, among other muscles.

How to do it: – Begin in a standing position with your feet positioned about shoulder width apart. – Look straight ahead and brace your core. – Keep your abdominals tight, then hinge at your hips and bent your knees to about 90 degree angle (as if you’re sitting). – To come up, use your legs first and then follow through with your glutes (squeeze your butt). – Aim for 10 to 15 repetitions. **We don’t recommend squatting past 90 degree angle. Even small range squatting will strengthen your muscles.

4. Dead Bug

dead bug

This exercise helps to increase deep core strength, and it also helps to improve hip and trunk stability.

How to do it: – Begin lying on your back with both arms extended towards the ceiling. – Lift your legs off the floor to 90 degrees. – Exhale to bring your ribcage down and try to flatten your back onto the floor by rotating your pelvis upwards and bracing your core muscles (this is the starting position for this exercise that you need to hold throughout the movement). – Start the exercise by extending your left leg, straightening at the knee and hip and bringing the leg down to just above the floor (don’t let your lower back arch); at the same time, lower your right arm back to just above the floor. – Keep your abdominal and gluteal muscles tightened and return your left leg and right arm to the starting position. – Repeat with your right leg and left arm. – Alternate sides for 20 repetitions.

5. Bird Dog

bird dog

This is a great exercise to improve core strength and lumbar back muscles.

How to do it:

In Conclusion

If you have an anterior pelvic tilt performing some simple stretching and strengthening exercises can help to correct it.

Correcting your pelvic positioning will not only aesthetically look more pleasing, it will also help to minimize any back and lower extremity pain you may be suffering from.

Check out these Anterior Pelvic Exercises:

Related: How to fix posterior pelvic tilt How to fix forward head posture Herniated disc exercises How to ease low back pain naturally Back Intelligence Homepage

Sources: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3820203/ https://journals.lww.com/nsca-scj/fulltext/2010/08000/Exercise_Strategies_to_Prevent_the_Development_of.6.aspx https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/0213/288e3772f12e7673dd3f8702f6cab9d98345.pdf

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