If I go a day without spotting an anterior pelvic tilt, it’s because I didn’t leave the house. How does one recognize an anterior pelvic tilt (APT) at a glance without a kinesiology background? Think of any female fitness model you’ve ever seen on the cover of a magazine hitting the traditional side pose. Her butt is arched up so high in that animal kingdom mating pose that you could rest a dinner plate, a drink, and a side salad on it…possibly with enough room to leave your elbows on the table. While this is obviously a more exaggerated APT than the average person walks around with, a huge percentage of people have some degree of misalignment at the pelvis, and I’m going to teach you how to spot it and fix it.

The Big Problem

If you remember from Part I of this article, I pointed out how an internally rotated humerus can spread to other problems and cause a cascade of unwanted physical ailments. It should come as no surprise that an APT is not an isolated problem, and if left to run its course, will certainly cause further problems all over the body.

We need to remember that the body is a functional unit working in harmony, and can’t be thought of as a group of separate parts. This is an underemphasized principle in proper weight training and rehab, so don’t ignore it. That being said, without a one-on-one assessment its impossible to diagnose specific individual problems, so take this info for what it is…a guide, not a cure-all for everyone with a misaligned pelvis. A few examples to illustrate the synchronicity of the pelvic related soft-tissue:

• Your chest position effects your pelvic position. The Thoracic Cage is roughly the area from your shoulders to the bottom of your ribs, and movement here causes a muscular chain reaction all the way down to your pelvis. According to a 2002 study in the European Spine Journal, researchers determined, “The findings of this study show that thoracic cage anterior/posterior translations cause significant changes in thoracic kyphosis (26 degrees ), lumbar curve, and pelvic tilt.” The stability of this area is governed by many muscles, including the internal/external obliques, the lats, the transversus abdominus, and the deep muscles on the spine called the multifidus. Tightness or instability of any of these can cause shifting of the Cage, which can then translate to a shift at the pelvis.
• A pelvic tilt will most certainly cause the muscles of the lower limb to compensate. It’s not always easy to tell what caused what, but usually one will find an internally rotated femur accompanying a forward pelvic tilt. Simply put, this is when the knee starts to turn inward during standing, walking, squatting, etc.