Anterior Pelvic Tilt - How sitting maybe causing back pain.
What is anterior pelvic tilt
The pelvis is a basin-shaped group of bones that connects the back and legs. If you picture it as a bowl, we term the direction of tilt based on which way the ‘bowl’ is ‘pouring’. An anterior tilt means the pelvis is tilted forward (anterior is the anatomy word for the front of the body).
What causes an anterior pelvic tilt?
A forward pelvic tilt is caused by shortened hip flexors and a lengthening of the hip extensors.[i]
The hip flexors are a group of muscles that are responsible…well for hip flexion. We use them to kick, run and bend at the hip.[ii] This is simply the way we describe the process of lifting your knee straight up in front of you.
Our busy but sedentary lives can a major cause of type hip flexors.
Many of us spend most of the day sitting.
We wake up and SIT for breakfast
We SIT in the car on the way to work
We SIT at work
We SIT for lunch (often at the same place that we SIT all day for work)
We SIT in the car on the way home
We SIT for dinner
We SIT and watch Netflix (often whilst eating dinner)
As we SIT, our body adapts to that position as the norm. This is the position with our hips in flexion (our knees elevated in front of us).
Our hip flexors learn to relax and deactivate becoming weaker and shorter.[iii]
Weak abs and butt muscles also play a role.[iv][v]
What happens we have an anterior pelvic tilt?
When the pelvis is rotated froward, it forces our lower spine to excessively curve. This can lead to back pain.[vi]
Additionally, it can cause the leg bones to rotate in and cause the knees to move toward each other. This can cause hip and knee pain.[vii]
Next time we will look at some exercises to help correct anterior pelvic tilt.
[i] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317379#Causes
[ii] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317379#Causes
[iii] https://www.healthline.com/health/tight-hips#causes
[iv] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/317379#Causes
[v] https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/anterior-pelvic-tilt-exercises#thethomas-test
[vi] https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/anterior-pelvic-tilt-exercises#outlook
[vii] https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/anterior-pelvic-tilt-exercises#outlook
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