Postural Alignment: Lower-Body Series Part 2 — Neutral Pelvis
Developing postural body awareness is TOUGH as adults. It takes education and understanding of the proper skeletal alignment, the muscles that support it and their endurance, and most importantly, self-awareness. Unfortunately, most people wait to think about correct posture until they experience true pain from an overuse injury. Some common overuse injuries include tennis elbow or side effects of poor posture like shoulder issues and headaches. In this 4-part lower-body alignment series, we’ll discuss how the pelvis is the tipping point for postural health, its supporting muscles, and easy-to-do tips to take the first steps toward postural health.
In Part 1, we focused on Perching.
In Part 2, we’re focusing on Neutral Pelvis.
Proper pelvis positioning is critical for our postural health. Our goal is to maintain a neutral pelvis throughout the day. Neutral pelvis is defined by the ASIS (anterior superior iliac spine) being in line with the pubic bone. An illustration is at 0:08 within the video for better visual understanding. This alignment provides the best positioning for correct muscle recruitment and engagement.
By simply observing, we can discover our misalignment tendencies: do we naturally tilt forward or back, do we shift or twist?
Find out if your pelvis naturally tips forward, resulting in an arched back creating an anterior tilt, or maybe it’s the opposite and your pelvis tilts slightly under, resulting in a rounding of your lower back and creating a posterior tilt. These natural tilts are shared by many people and cause an imbalance in the supporting muscles both sitting at your desk and during movement.
A common real-life scenario that causes a pelvis shift (one hip bone higher than the other) is standing with weight primarily on one leg or sitting with a wallet in your back pocket. Also, notice what happens when you cross your legs: does your pelvis slightly twist to one side, creating an additional imbalance?
Over time, these misalignments cause tightness, weakness, and imbalances in the supporting muscles and tissues supporting the pelvis, which may lead to issues throughout the rest of the body.
So, what can you do? Start with little things often. Consider sitting and standing in better pelvic alignment at the beginning of every meeting or class. This will help develop body-awareness by consciously making slight postural corrections throughout the day until they become natural habits. As you learn to develop and use the supportive muscles properly, neutral pelvis alignment can be attained in most all postures from sitting or standing at your desk, to pushups during a fitness class, to lying down and watching your favorite shows.
In Part 3 & 4 we’ll dive deeper into exercises and movement patterns to promote better lower-body alignment. Want to learn more? Follow 2 Claps 1 Snap on Instagram for our Wellness Wednesday Series, where we provide weekly exercise and health tips and videos.