I have a problem, my pelvis or pelvic bone tilts slightly forward and down. It makes me look strange when I walk and therefore need to know how to fix it. PLEASE, tell me what stretches/ excersizes to do and i will do them non-stop until the problem goes away. I am 17.5 years old, 14% bf, 186lbs, 5’9". Any help would be greatly appreciated!
It sounds like you have tight hip flexors. To stretch this, put on foot forward one foot back, then push the bottom of your pelvis forward. You should feel a pull at the very top of you leg, below the waist. This should help.
I am not quite sure if what you mean. I assume that what you are reffereing to is a forward tilit which means you have an exaggerated lumbar curve.
If this is the case, i would highly suggest some hip flexor stretching. This may help, however there is a big debate on wether or not stretching and strengthening exercises will change resting muscle length. However, as this is most evident when you are walking, tightness of your hip flexors may be the culprit.
There are a couple of stretches that I can suggest you do, but be warned, they are painfull like nothing else.
First one, you will require a partener to help you. Lie on the edge of a rable, so that your body, from mid glute up, is resting on the table, and your legs are off the table. Now you will have your partner stand in front of you. Next you will place your right foot against his chest (as if you are going to leg press him away) and let your left foot hang down. What he now has to do is push your left knee down with his hand, and push your right knee towards your chest by applying pressure against your right foot which is on his chest. Get to a good stretch and hold for 1-2 minutes. If you are up for it, try some PNF type contractions. Simply lift your knee against his hand, thereby contracting the muscle being stretched, for 10 second. Then relax, your partner should now try and push a little more than before to get an extra stretch.
The second stretch has an explanation and pictures in one of Poilquins old articles, I think he called it a three point hip flexor stretch or something. However if done right, that first one will certainly do the trick.
All the best.
Definitely stretch your hip flexors. Very sound advice. But there are some other things that can be done as well.
Think of your pelvis as a teeter-totter. The hinge that it “teeters” on is the heads of your femurs (thigh bones). Now, your pelvis is being pulled in 4 different directions. Your Hip Flexors (Psoas, Iliacus, Rectus Femoris) pull it down and forward. Your Lower Back muscles (Erector Spinae) pull up and forward. This causes your pelvis to “teeter” forward and protrude. So stretch your Hip Flexors and Erector Spinae. This is half the solution.
The second part involves strengthening the muscles that pull in the opposite directions. First, your Rectus Abdominus pulls your pelvis up and back. This will act as a counter balance to your tight Hip Flexors. Now in order to hit your abs and not your hip flexors (adjacent muscle groups always contract when a “prime mover” is engaged), you have to shorten your hip flexors while doing an ab exercise. The best way I know how to do this is by using a seated ab machine with your feet elevated up on a box with kness bent and even with your rib cage. Simply concentrate on bringing the bottom of your rib cage into your pelvis. NO MOVEMENT SHOULD OCCUR IN YOUR HIP JOINT. Only your spine flexes forward. Do heavy reps (4-8), with slow 5 second eccentrics.
Next you need to strengthen your hamstrings and glutes. They pull your pelvis down and back. You could try some wimpy cable moves but Deadlifts and Good Mornings with some Reverse Hypers are best. The only draw back to these exercises is the large role the lower back muscles play in them. So do your dead's Ian King style and stretch your erector spinae muscles extensively after each workout.
The last thing to remember is that you’re right in committing to stretching every day. Stretch 4-7 times each day (Erecor Spinae, Hip Flexors), but also keep in mind these guidelines. Stretch can only be performed when muscle temperature is signifigantly elevated. So your have to do some cardio before you stretch. The tighter the muscle, the warmer it needs to be in order to permanently elongate. So every time you stretch, you have to do some sort of warm-up and work into a light sweat. I know it’s not practical, but it’s the only way to stretch effectively.
So stretch lower back and Hip Flexors and strengthen Rectus Abdominus, Hamstrings and Glutes.
Hope this helps, it works for me. Peace.
Thanks guys, this has helped ALOT. I only recently started doing heavy deadlifts about 2 months ago and have really been concentrating on them and have moved up from a max deadlift of 280 to a max deadlift of 350. That is olympic style but I have also been doing sets of semi-stifflegged deadlifts for 10 reps in addition to that next in my workout. it looks like this 2 warm up sets, then 3 work sets for olympic style (knees all the way bent and then standing up with the weight) then 2 warm ups for semi’s and then 2 work sets for semi’s and then a final progression of 1 warmup and 1 work set of 15 reps on the leg curl machine. Do you see this as an efficiant hamstring “blow up” program. I am just keeping my quads at slightly above maintenance to concentrate on hams and glutes. I am considering doing good mornings also in this workout although I don’t know how to really work them in without overtraining. input would be appreciated, thanks bros!
I seem to remember in Supertraining it saying one can accelerate the rate you gain flexablilty by getting in cold water after finished stretching. This somehow casues the now stretched muscle to stay closer to the stretched length. I have never done this or heard from anyone who has, but I brought it up because it seems you want to cure this problem quicly. Does anyone else remember this?
All the advice here is sound, but I have one concern about SNAUS’ first stretch. This stretch is virtually identical to an osteopathic technique to correct a posteriorly rotated innominate (that is where the ilium rotates posteriorly relative to the sacrum). This technique provides great leverage to the iliosacral joint (more than the sort of lunging techniques described) and could conceivably cause an anterior rotation of the iliosacral joint! Once you develop some instability with this joint, it can be permanent because ligaments, which are a big part of what stabilize this joint, don’t shorten much if at all once they become strethed. If you use this technique, stop if you notices any discomfort developing down near the dimples at the top of the buttocks as this would indicate the joint may be moving.
Another technique not discussed here is myofascial release to the iliopsoas muscles. The results will be faster than stretching. See if you can find a PT, DC, DO or maybe even a massage therapist to show you how to do this. You’ll need someone else to perform it on you. It isn’t rocket science so a friend or family member should be able to perform this release on you with a little training. (They’d better have good strength and endurance, however, especially in the hands.)
Hope that helps.
You need to go to a CHIROPRACTOR
Thank you for the information regarding this stretch. I have been using it for a while and have not paid much attention to anything but the actual area being stretched.
I have a question though, would the potential risk of this stretch, as described by you, be reduced somewhat if the focus was turned to the Rectus femoris muscle. What I mean is that, instead of increasing the pressure on the knee, the bottom foot can be pushed back towards the glute. I know it may be hard to imagine, but it is the same stretch, with less pressure on the knee, but with flexion (increasing) at the knee?
I’m not sure I understand your question (a possibility you alluded to:-)). I’m not clear how involving the rectus femoris would help. A couple of thoughts that may allow you to answer the question for yourself in case I don’t get back to you or I just can’t grasp what you’re describing. The rectus femoris attaches at the anterior inferior iliac spine so any tension there will have the effect of inducing an anterior rotation of the innominate–and I believe this is in fact the muscle that does most if not all of the corrective work in the technique I described. If you flex the knee, this puts tension in the hamstrings which attach at on the pubic rami (I wish I could be more precise where but I’m having to go on some old memories and don’t have my anatomy text handy.) This would cause the innominate to rotate posteriorly, possibly mitigating any anterior force (is that where you headed?). But I’m just not sure if contracting the hams would give enough extension to the hip stretch the ilium and poas muscles. The stretch comes from hip extension however attained and your technique works precisely because it causes hip extension beyond what the subject can provide merely through muscle contractions. That said, as long as the subject is not applying resistance at the knee against the assistant’s hand and is not feeling any discomfort at the posterior inferior iliac spine (near the dimples), your technique is probably fine. It’s late and I’m probably misremembering the anatomy and making an ass of myself, so I’ll check my books later and see if I’m missing anything. Hope this helps.