[Medical Q&A] How to improve pelvic tilt?

Author: Zhou Yi, Associate Professor of Xi'an Medical College

Reviewer: Xiao Xinli, Associate Professor of Xi'an Jiaotong University

Pelvic tilt can cause a lot of harm to the human body. If you find that you have pelvic tilt, you should improve it through the following methods.

1. Change bad posture. Avoid sitting for long periods of time in daily life, and avoid bending over, lowering your head, looking at your phone for long periods of time, etc. Try to keep your back in a vertical position and hold your head high and chest out; when walking, gently squeeze your hips, lower your shoulders, and slightly retract your chin; when sitting to work, place your desk and screen correctly, with your hips firmly on the chair and your waist supported; when driving, relax your back and fit it against the seat back.

2. It is recommended to lie flat when sleeping, and a cushion can be placed under the knee joint to effectively adjust the degree of pelvic tilt. Try to avoid lying on your side for a long time to reduce the aggravation of pelvic tilt caused by unbalanced force on the hip joint and sacroiliac joint.

3. Wear negative heel shoes to correct pelvic tilt. The principle is to adjust the body's center of gravity by adjusting the height of the front and back of the shoes, so that the center of gravity moves backward. Or prepare a book about 20mm thick, step on the book with the front of your feet barefoot, and put the back of your feet on the ground, keeping the front high and the back low posture, hold for 30 seconds in a group, do 3 to 5 groups, and persist for a period of time, which can improve the pelvic tilt.

4. Muscle function training. The basic method is to relax the tense muscles, such as the iliopsoas muscles in the front of the hip and the waist muscles, and strengthen the loose and weak abdominal and buttocks muscles.

(1) Iliopsoas stretch: Keep your back straight, lunge forward with one leg and stretch the other leg backward, with your knees on the ground and your center of gravity forward, fully feeling the stretch in your thigh.

(2) Stretch your back muscles: Keep your abdomen contracted, sit on your heels, lean forward on the ground, extend your arms forward, fully contract your abdomen and arch your entire back.

(3) Exercise your abdominal muscles: Do sit-ups. Lie flat on the ground with your legs bent. Use your abdominal muscles to lift your upper body about 45 degrees. Be careful not to use force on your neck and do not arch your back excessively.

(4) Glute and posterior thigh exercises: Do the hip bridge exercise, bend your knees and support your feet on the ground, and use the strength of your hips and posterior thighs to lift your shoulders, hips, and knees into a straight line. Exhale while exerting force.

(5) Standing rectus femoris stretch (i.e. the muscles on the front of the thigh): Stand on one leg, bend the other leg backward, and grab the ankle with the same hand. Pull the heel toward the buttocks and feel a stretch in the front of the thigh.