The red line (in picture 1) shows an imaginary line intersecting where the center of her her hip joint, shoulder and ear are at in space (tilted forwards). Ideally, we would like to see the hip, shoulder and ear lined up vertically (shown by the green line).
(Tightness in the hip flexors and quadriceps and poor strength in her glutes and lower abdominal muscles have tilted her pelvis forwards, which once again arches her lower back inwards.)
Correcting a Forward Tilted Pelvis
To correct the position of the pelvis, we use a hip harness and resistance bands. She put the hip harness around her pelvis and then attached two light resistance bands to the harness. The backwards pull of the bands on the harness helps her feel how to engage and strengthen the correct muscles to level her pelvis and reduce the arch in her low back.
Picture 3 – Teaching Neutral Position
We taught her how to place her hands on her hips and tip her pelvis, from the forward tipped position shown above, backwards to a better more comfortable and less stressful “neutral” pelvis and lower back position.
The bands, attached to the hip harness, resists this movement and helps her activate, strengthen & stretch certain muscles so she can better align her hip, shoulder and ear vertically as indicated by the green line.
This exercise immediately turns on the glute muscles and a key lower abdominal muscle group called the “transverse abdominus” or TA. When the glutes and TA engage (activate) they stretch and relax the shortened muscles on the front of the thigh, pelvis and spine called the hip flexors and quadriceps. When tight or short, these muscles pull the pelvis and spine forwards, spilling the milk and putting her lower back into an arched position.