3 Exercises for a Wonky Pelvis
A wonky pelvis is one of THE most common postural deviations I see day to day. In my work as a posture coach, it’s extremely rare to see an aligned pelvis. In fact, I’m not sure that I have ever worked with a single person who has not had some form of disparity in their pelvis.
Be it elevated on one side (giving the appearance/feel of one leg being longer than the other), rotated forwards (meaning one leg will normally stand further forwards than the other) or a difference in terms of the anterior/posterior position on either side (which will make the lower back curve differently) most people will have some combination of the above.
This wonky pelvic position means that hips can’t move properly (causing pain and problems running down the legs), the spine can’t move properly (causing pain and problems through the spine) and the shoulders can’t sit or move properly (causing pain and problems through the arms). A wonky pelvis is truly a whole body problem!
The reason that SO many people have a wonky pelvis is normally extremely simple to determine – the amount of time we spend sat down and HOW we sit down. Firstly, just being sat down on chairs/sofas/cars etc for the amount of time that we normally are, will compress and distort the function of the muscles around the pelvis but secondly, the WAY we sit will massively impact what happens to the muscles around our pelvis (and therefore our pelvic position).
If we have had a desk job for 10/20/30/40 years and tend to prefer having one leg crossed over the other in a certain way, this becomes moulded into our muscles (which hold our bones in/out of place).
Another huge contributor to a wonky pelvis, in my opinion, are our cars. When we drive, we have one leg continually active (the right leg as it controls acceleration) and one leg fairly passive (the left leg is only having to consider the clutch … or no clutch at all if you drive automatic). I see a veritable factory line of right side pelvic elevation in my work and I am convinced driving is the main contributor of this.
I also believe that a traumatic birth experience may make something occur to your pelvis as you are born and acute traumas/accidents (perhaps like a car crash or falling from a horse) can create disparity upon impact.
The good news is that, regardless of cause, I am a firm believer than anyone can create change in terms of balancing a wonky pelvis.
In my Youtube video below, I share 3 exercises with you that should help to restore balance back to a wonky pelvis. Pay close attention to how each side of your pelvis feels as you do them and hopefully notice it change either during the exercise itself OR over time with repetition of the routine.
As with all of my videos/exercises, please be your own boss and stop any exercises that aggravate normal symptoms of pain/tension for you. As your pelvis untwists, you may notice hard work or a new sensation of discomfort, but this is a good thing as your body is literally re-aligning your bones.
Aggravation of your normal symptoms of pain means that your body is compensating, it’s unhappy and it doesn’t want you doing the exercise. So please have the wherewithal to stop!
If you watched the video and really felt a difference … why not pursue this a little further? Improving your balance and your posture is genuinely one of the easiest ways to feel amazing quite quickly. It can help alleviate symptoms of pain and tension from all over your body. Please have a look at My Services if you’d like to learn more!
I also thought I’d share this article from the inimitable Katy Bowman on a neutral pelvis. If you haven’t heard of her before, check her out!