Struggling with posture? Can’t walk properly? Suffering from tight pelvic muscles? Worried about how pregnancy is affecting your body? We need to talk about pelvic tilt.
Pelvic tilt. Is it a thing?
It sure is.
Hearing about such a condition usually only happens once you’ve been diagnosed with it.
But pelvic tilt is a real problem faced by real people. It’s not a fictional condition from the nightmarish minds of horror writers.
Dysfunctional movement – which often leads to chronic pain and subsequent related health problems – is primarily caused by muscle imbalance. And pelvic tilt remains one of the leading causes of muscle imbalance.
Not only that, but pelvic tilt can also cause a lack of motor control, the development of poor posture, reduced independence and mobility, and a loss of balance/stability.
So What’s Going On With Your Pelvis?
Put simply, and to avoid cluttering this article with unnecessary medical terminology, we describe pelvic tilt as the position of the pelvis in relation to the body.
If the pelvis tilts and then naturally rests in a particular direction – disrupting mobility, disturbing your body’s stability, and putting pressure upon your posture – then you need some assistance to put things right again.
Muscles that permit the hip to bend and flex (extensors and hip flexors) play a significant role in many pelvic tilt conditions.
Both of these muscles connect to your pelvis and lower back and, should they become strained, can cause a domino effect on other areas of the body.
Need an example? Alright. One of the muscles in this group is your Quadratus Lumborum; a back muscle found in the abdomen. Courtesy of pelvic tilt, this muscle can become strained and cause further discomfort.
Another example is the Rectus Femoris; one of the large muscles that sit on the front of your thigh.
Perhaps one of the most common side-effects of pelvic tilt remains the straining of the Psoas Major – the sensitive muscle that links your thigh bone to the spine. Putting stress on this muscle can cause serious discomfort and halt your daily activities with immediate effect.
There’s also a common denominator that knits these muscles together. And that’s their influence on good posture. By denying these muscles their ability to carry your frame properly, you are quickly going to develop other health problems, too.
It is for all of these reasons that we want to help people suffering from pelvic tilt. When we treat the condition, we also aim to prevent these subsequently-related health problems from occurring; issues such as pelvic floor dysfunction.
Pelvic floor dysfunction can be the catalyst to a whole range of discomfort, and it all starts with a loss of control over your pelvic floor muscles, which works back to pelvic tilt.
You hopefully have the full picture now. Either way, you don’t want pelvic tilt to start causing pain. But don’t panic, as we can help you if that pain starts.
Pelvic Tilt: What You Need To Know
Generally speaking, there are three types of pelvic tilt: Posterior (backwards), Anterior (forwards), and Lateral (sideways).
Pelvic tilt becomes a problem once your pelvic floor muscles begin to change for the worse. After all, as we have (hopefully) helped you understand, these muscles play a pivotal role in the function and contraction of organs and posture.
Naturally, you’ll most likely label this condition as an exclusive for pregnant women. But you’d be wrong in that assumption. Anyone can be affected, regardless of age or gender. Although it is most commonly found in pregnant and older women.
Pelvic tilt (and the overall position of the pelvis) can cause problems with delivery when undergoing the labor process, and is critical to a healthy recovery post-delivery, too.
If you are diagnosed with pelvic tilt, don’t let it worry you. The condition is fully treatable through the correct administration of physical therapy. By incorporating the counteractive kind of corrective movements and pairing that motion with therapeutic exercises, pelvic tilt can be successfully corrected.
Let’s look at that a bit more.
Pelvic Tilt: How Physical Therapy Can Help
Physical therapy helps to strengthen the body, with an aim to rectify any dysfunctions of motion that cause discomfort or difficulty with daily life. If something is contributing to chronic pain – such as pelvic pain – then physical therapy is your answer.
By undertaking and performing corrective exercises under the careful guidance and supervision of a physical therapist who understands your situation, you can not only address your pelvic tilt, but also lessen the chances of it happening again.
This is because your muscles are kept in shape and remain strong enough to hold your pelvis in place. The associated muscle imbalances are also addressed, keeping your pelvic health firmly in check.
What Exactly Are The Symptoms Of Pelvic Tilt?
So, how can you tell that pelvic tilt is occurring?
As mentioned above, there are three main types of pelvic tilt, and the pelvis position in relation to the body is how we classify and analyze the direction in which the pelvis has tilted.
To craft the best remedial treatment plan, we need to diagnose the type and position of pelvic tilt that’s going on.
You could have a Posterior Pelvic Tilt, where the front of the pelvis tilts back and up, while the lower part rotates under the body. Not only does this positioning put a strain on the position of your spine, but it can cause serious discomfort. Tight hamstrings can be a leading cause here.
Then there’s the Anterior Pelvic Tilt, where the front of the pelvis moves forward, while the back portion rotates up. Again, this can cause issues with the spine and posture. Pregnant women are commonly hit with this one.
Or there’s Lateral Pelvic Tilt, where the pelvis shifts to one side, causing one side to be higher than the other. This can lead to imbalances elsewhere in the body, such as our ability to stand up straight or walk properly.
But how can you tell if you have any of these conditions?
If you feel overly tight muscles around the pelvic area, suffer issues with posture and a subsequent protruding stomach area, pain in your thigh muscles, or weakness in your midriff, then we’d encourage you to seek a professional diagnosis.
Pelvic Tilt: Can I Treat Myself At Home?
Developing a pelvic tilt doesn’t just happen overnight. It builds up and develops over time courtesy of improper movement, sitting for overly long periods, and slouching.
In living a lifestyle that permits the aforementioned issues, imbalance of various muscles takes you down a route of pelvic tilt and pain. This is the first thing to recognise, and once you’ve pinpointed the lifestyle changes that you, therefore, need to make, you are already on a path to recovery.
However, don’t think that self-treating is going to be easy. It will challenge you, if you don’t find it altogether impossible.
You can certainly improve the symptoms by upping your activity levels. The more you reduce the time where your hips are flexed (i.e – sitting), the better. All this sitting about won’t do you any favors.
Try to tackle your posture, too. If you are deskbound on a regular basis, ensure that you are positioned ergonomically. Get into the habit of utilizing some stretching exercises.
Make sure you are comfortable when going to bed. You’ll want a supportive mattress for that.
Treating yourself also depends on the severity of the condition. That’s why we’d push you to get a professional diagnosis. It’s not just to create a treatment plan that works effectively, it’s to make sure you aren’t doing yourself any further damage.
Pelvic Tilt: Get Help With Intecore PT
Our physical therapists provide pre-operative, post-operative, and non-operative therapy for injuries that are a result of work, trauma, or overuse. Not to mention conditions caused by poor posture, a lack of activity/exercise, and poor life balance.
Our focus is to provide relief through an extensive physical therapy evaluation, manual therapy techniques, therapeutic exercise, patient education and an individual focus on patient care to successfully return our patients to full function and enhance their quality of life.
At Intecore Physical Therapy we focus on the individual patient, not just the pain. You can find out more about our mission statement through our About Us page.
Looking to get help?
We can provide pelvic tilt therapy in the Belfair, Poulsbo, and Bremerton areas. Reach out and speak with us. Don’t suffer in silence with your pelvic tilt. We can help!
Whether you are an athlete that wants to be able to play a sport again, a parent that wants to be able to engage with family life, a woman recovering from pregnancy, or a retiree that wants to be able to enjoy a more active life, our physical therapy team will be happy and able to help you.
We are committed to providing the highest quality physical therapy care for our patients. Want to become one of those patients and a member of the Intecore family?
You know what to do – talk to us!
