How To Fix Posterior Pelvic Tilt- ( 7 Exercises To Fix In 2023)

Reviewed By Chiropractic Specialist

How To Fix Posterior Pelvic Tilt?

Movement dysfunction is primarily caused by muscle imbalance. A pelvic tilt can cause problems with mobility, stability, posture, and motor control problems.

Pain relates to the body; pelvic tilt refers to the position of the pelvis.

Whenever your pelvis is out of alignment, it will tilt one way or another, causing many disruptions in the kinetic chain.

Imbalances in the hip flexors and extensors cause many pelvic tilt problems. Because these muscles attach to the pelvis and lower back, other pelvic region muscles will likely become tense.

In addition to the psoas major, the rectus femoris and the quadratus lumborum are included in this group.

In either case, these muscles affect the lower back region and are responsible for poor posture. 

You must help your clients avoid pelvic tilt-related problems, including pelvic floor dysfunction.

Many other things can happen when the pelvic floor muscles cannot be controlled. Through muscle contractions, the pelvic floor muscles assist in organ function.

Corrective exercise should be incorporated into a client’s program to create a more durable body and fix movement dysfunctions.

Performance can be improved through corrective exercise, performance can be restored, and injury risk can be reduced. 

The best way to Fix this problem is to sit in a Posterior Pelvic Tilt chair which is comfortable and flexible.

Issues Relating To Posterior Pelvic Tilt

Weak and contracted leg muscles
 Shortened tendon structures surround the pelvic
Unbalanced
Posture issues

Causes of Posterior Pelvic Tilt

Causes of Posterior Pelvic Tilt
1

 Poor Sitting Posture

You’re already at risk of posterior pelvic tilt if you sit all day, but your risk increases even further if you sit poorly. Sitting slumped at your desk all day, you distort your spine’s curvature and put stress in all the wrong places. A weakening of the hip flexors and back muscles. And the hamstrings, gluteal and abdominal muscles get very tight. high and mid-back chairs are best for poor sitting posture

2

Poor Standing Posture

The same applies to standing posture as it does to sitting posture. Standing with a posterior pelvic tilt posture may cause you to round your lower back and hunch your shoulders. The upper body will lean back more, and the abs will feel shortened.

3

Holding/Carrying Heavy Objects

You may develop a posterior pelvic tilt posture if you hold heavy objects for an extended period. When you try to support a “heavy object” with your hips, your tailbone tilts forward (or “under”). As a result, your back is elongated, and your abdominal muscles are shortened. As a result, postural problems will develop over time.

4

Incorrect Exercise Regiment

The posterior pelvic tilt may be caused by exercising gluteal, abdominal muscles, and hamstrings. In the absence of counterbalancing back muscles, overdeveloped abdominal muscles can pull the pelvis posterior and flatten the lumbar spine.

5

Sleeping Posture

The natural curve of your spine may be restricted by your mattress or sleeping position, resulting in a pelvic tilt. Find out the ways how to sleep in a lateral pelvic tilt.

How does Posterior Pelvic Tilt happen?

How Posterior Pelvic Tilt Happens?

Sitting for long periods causes our hip flexors to shorten, causing compensatory tension in the hamstrings.

When you stand up and have short hip flexors, your hamstrings pull on your hip and lower back.

Because of this, your hips tilt backward, and your lower back flattens, making your butt and gut appear larger. Interestingly, sedentary lifestyle choices also cause anterior pelvic tilt, but with opposite effects.

How Can I Tell If I Have Posterior Pelvic Tilt?

A slight pelvic tilt is standard in humans to some extent. It depends on your body type, genes, etc. A slight pelvic tilt is more common in women than in men.

You can, however, determine whether you have PPT by performing the Thomas Test. 

You can get a friend to observe you or use your phone or webcam to record it to fix the posterior pelvic tilt.

Sit on the edge of a table or another stable surface
Place your hands on your knees and lean back until you are flat on your back
Extend one leg at the hip until your thigh touches the table, then let go of that leg.

Neither your hip nor leg can rotate or move outward if your thigh touches the table and your knee is bent.

You may have PPT if your knee needs to be extended (straightened) to touch the table’s surface. You have a short rectus femoris.

If your thigh cannot touch the table even after extending your knee, your psoas is short.

You have a short tensor fascia lata if the thigh needs to touch the table’s surface by moving your leg and hip outside.

If any of these things occur, and your spine is slightly curved, you will benefit from some PPT exercises or drills to correct these issues.

Stretching And Strengthening To Correct Posterior Pelvic Tilt

How Posterior Pelvic Tilt Happens

Hip Flexors

Tight hip flexors cause anterior pelvic tilt. Shortening occurs when a muscle tightens. As hip flexors shorten, hip extensors loosen up or lengthen.
It is attached to the pelvis and the lower back by the iliopsoas, sartorius, and rectus femoris muscles. As a result of their origin and attachment sites, these muscles play a crucial role in hip flexion. Poor posture and excessive sitting keep the hips flexed for a long time.
Hip bends cause the front of the pelvis to rotate forward and the back of the pelvis to rotate upward. An anterior pelvic tilt is caused by this body position. It is essential to deliver a healthy baby during pregnancy that the pelvis tilts.
Strengthen your core and surrounding muscles during pregnancy by performing pelvic tilt exercises. As important as pre-pregnancy exercises are post-pregnancy exercises.

Hamstrings, Glutes, and Abs

A posterior pelvic tilt has the opposite effect. When the front of the pelvis tilts up and back, tight hamstrings and glutes pull the bottom of the pelvis under the body. While weak lower back muscles do not respond to tight abdominal muscles, they pull the pelvis up. As a result, a posterior pelvic tilt is created. 

Quadratus Lumborum

If you’ve ever heard a client say they have one leg shorter than the other, they might have lateral pelvic tilt. An apparent short leg can be caused by a lateral pelvic tilt. A lateral pelvic tilt is usually created and corrected by the quadratus lumborum. Quadratus lumborum attaches to both the pelvis and lumbar spine deep within the abdominal wall. It is primarily responsible for lateral bending, or bending sideways. In this way, the pelvis can be stabilized. This muscle will begin to pull the pelvis up on the other side of the spine as it becomes tighter on one side. Proper pelvic positioning is the first step to preventing pelvic tilt in your clients. Check your clients for pelvic tilts or signs of pelvic tilts on a regular basis. As a fitness trainer, it is important to know if a tilt exists so that you can prescribe the right workout routine encompassing the corrective exercise.

How To Design A Corrective Exercise Program To Correct Posterior Pelvic Tilt

Posterior Pelvic causes

Examining a client’s natural lower back curve can help determine if they have posterior pelvic tilt issues.

You can identify a posterior pelvic tilt when the lower back does not have a natural curve. Check the position of the posterior superior iliac spine concerning the anterior prominent iliac crest.

You can locate the posterior superior iliac spine by feeling for the two bony landmarks in your lower back. The anterior superior iliac crest is situated on the front of the body. This can signify posterior pelvic tilt, as they should slightly decline from front to back. This is because most are horizontal.

When a client tests positive for posterior pelvic tilt, you need to design a corrective exercise program. The glute, hamstring, and ab muscles should be loosened during this program. Besides strengthening the hip flexors, you should also enhance the lumbar erectors.

Do Tight Hamstrings Cause Posterior Pelvic Tilt?

Posterior Pelvic Tilt

The issues with this version are the opposite of those with the anterior pelvic tilt. This occurs when the top of the pelvis rotates under the body while the front tips up and back.

In the same way as anterior pelvic tilt, the spine is compromised, and corrective exercises would be beneficial. A tight hamstring can cause posterior pelvic tilt.

Effects Of Hamstring Stretching On Pelvic Tilt.

A tight hamstring causes a posterior pelvic tilt and reduced lumbar lordosis, resulting in low back pain. Standing workers’ pain and workability after hamstring stretch with pelvic control.

One hundred adult volunteers were randomly assigned to pelvic control hamstring stretching (PCHS) (n = 34), general hamstring stretching (GHS) (n = 34), and control (n = 32).

The control group performed exercises at home. Three days a week for six weeks, hamstrings were stretched, and lumbopelvic muscles were strengthened. Visual analog scale (VAS), straight leg raise test (SLR), sit and reach test (SRT),

Oswestry disability index (ODI) and work ability index (WAI) were used to evaluate outcomes. For back pain reduction and improvement of work capability in an industrial setting, pelvic control hamstring stretching would be more beneficial.

Exercises To Correct Posterior Pelvic Tilt

1

Seated Hamstring Stretch

Seated Hamstring Stretch

Hamstrings can tighten from extended sitting and standing, leading to bad posture and a posterior pelvic tilt. You are lengthening your hamstring muscle and keeping your pelvis in a neutral posture while you stretch it out.

You should perform it as follows:

First, take a seat in a sturdy chair.
Stretch your left leg while lying on your left side.
By stooping and extending forward, you can extend your toes.
Holding the posture for 15 to 20 seconds is recommended.
Slowly revert to your starting position.
Aim for three reps on each side.
Two belly presses up (Cobra Pose)
2

Abdominal Press Up (Cobra Pose)

cobra

Easing the tension in your abdominal muscles is crucial to achieving better posture.

Lie on the floor and raise yourself off with flat hands at shoulder level, pushing until you feel a stretch.

Let out an exhale as you push further into lumbar extension, then repeat five times for best results!

3

Lunges

lunges exercise

Strengthen and tone your legs with lunges! Start standing, then take a big step forward with one leg. Make sure to bend the knee so it’s at 90 degrees.

You want that back knee to brush against the floor for full effect.

After each lunge, return to your starting stance by pushing off that front foot before switching sides and repeating the process three sets of 10 times on either side (try not to let those knees pass beyond your toes; this could lead over time!).

4

Plank

plank exercise

Here’s how to do it:

Strengthen your glutes and deep core muscles with this effective exercise.

Position yourself on the ground, lying face-first, forearms flat, and toes planted firmly.

Engaging your abdominal region as you keep a neutral spine (without slouching or arching), hold this fine plank position for 20 to 30 seconds before lowering back down;

Two to five repetitions are suggested for best results!

Don’t forget – straighten that back throughout each rep!

5

Glute Bridge

Glute Bridge

This exercise results from strengthening your core, gluteal, and back muscles.

How to do it:

Your arms should be beside your torso, your knees should be bent, and your feet should be flat on the floor.
Brace your core and squeeze your butt before moving.
Continue to squeeze your butt as you brace.
You should hold this position for 5 seconds and then slowly return to the starting position.
Aim for a total of 10 repetitions.
**Don’t hyperextend during this movement. Your glutes should fire.
6

Leg Raises

Leg Raises

Strengthen your hip flexors with this simple exercise! Lie flat on the floor, arms straight at your side.

Then contact your core and slowly lift your legs off the ground while arching your lower back from the surface of an imaginary bubble made by lifting your feet.

Slowly return to starting position; if that’s too painful for you, ensure your knees are slightly bent during a practice session.

By doing so, you’ll be strengthening those under-appreciated abdominal muscles in no time!

7

Dead Bug

Dead Bug

(Alternate both sides)As well as improving hip and trunk stability, this exercise increases deep core strength.

How to do it:

Lie on your back with both arms extended towards the ceiling.
Lift your legs to 90 degrees off the ground.
By rotating your pelvis upwards and bracing your core muscles, exhale to bring your ribcage down and flatten your back onto the floor (this is your starting position for this exercise).
In this exercise, you will extend your left leg, straighten it at the knee and hip, and lower it to just above the floor (don’t let your lower back arch); simultaneously, you will reduce your right arm to just above the floor.
Keep your abdominal and gluteal muscles tightened, and return your left leg and right arm to their starting positions.
Do the same with your left arm and right leg. It would help if you alternated sides for a total of 20 repetitions.

Final Thoughts

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle requires movement. A sedentary lifestyle can cause back pain, poor posture, and other health problems.

Your body will move better, stand taller, and support itself better if you incorporate these simple exercises into your daily routine.

Posterior pelvic tilt can negatively affect your spinal health. To achieve a more neutral pelvic position and a healthier spine, stretch out shortened and tight muscles and strengthen inactive and weakened muscles.

How To Fix Posterior Pelvic Tilt FAQs

Is posterior pelvic tilt curable?

Correcting a posterior pelvic tilt involves balancing the muscles that affect the abnormal pelvic positioning. To regain flexibility in chronically tight muscles, stretching is necessary. Strengthening weak muscles is essential.

What muscles are tight with posterior pelvic tilt?

Tight hamstrings and glutes commonly cause the posterior pelvic tilt and lower abdominal muscles coupled with weak quadriceps, psoas, and lower back muscles. A tense muscle pulls on a body structure that is not counterbalanced by a soft muscle pull.

What causes excessive posterior pelvic tilt?

Leg muscles that are weak and tight. The tendons around the pelvic bones are shortened. The balance is incorrect. The posture is poor.

Can tight hamstrings affect the pelvis?

 Stretching a tight muscle will do more harm than good if the strength holds extra tension. The hamstrings provide stability to the pelvis when it tilts anteriorly. A tight hamstring is more a symptom than a cause.

Ron Mason
I, Ron Mason, am a retired forestry professional. My previous profession was that of an environmental educator, specifically as a Forester, with the USDA Forest Service. Additionally, I have worked as a contract forester in the private sector. With a strong background in science and engineering, my expertise lies in timber stand management, forest ecology, and wildlife biology. I am a dedicated woodworker and take pleasure in crafting furniture, tables, cabinets and other wooden items as a hobby.