Pelvic Balance & Back Pain

Why is pelvic balance important for back pain?

Have you ever noticed that you can sometimes “see” if someone has back pain (sometimes, not always!)? It’s in how they move, how they get up and sit down. It can make the gait look more stilted or more laboured. And it can feel that way too. When our back hurts, we move less and get less natural, healthy movement of our pelvis.

It can become a vicious circle: An imbalance in the pelvis puts more force in a single location in the spine, which can create pain, which limits movement and creates more imbalance.

So when you have back pain, it is very important to find pelvic balance: not tucked under, not sagged out.

Each of us has a unique habitual posture. Often in yoga or fitness classes, teachers see those postural habits and suggest an intervention. Usually it’s the opposite kind of action as a compensation, to fix the problem. For example, I have known people with a habitual anterior pelvic tilt who get told to “tuck tailbone” as a postural strategy. However, this becomes an over compensation: giving them a posterior pelvic tilt, which can create its own set of problems.

Balancing the pelvis is different than doing the opposite. It isn’t about compensating. Instead it is about teaching your body where the middle ground is, what balance feels like and how to move to and from a balanced place.

Good posture is about being responsive to the movement demands on your body in a balanced way. Having a balanced posture means moving with appropriate engagement everywhere. When you find a balanced pelvic posture, your muscle will be trainined in a balance way by your everyday actions like walking.

Start by finding your hip joints, like in the video below…