What can you do to improve your pelvic position? From the side view, it has to be aligned with your feet and shoulders in a certain way. I assume you already did your posture self-evaluation and practiced a parallel feet position last week.
Your Current Pelvic Position
As you already know, most of us have a bad habit of pushing the pelvis forward when we stand or walk. Here are the examples:
Proper Pelvic Position
For pelvis to correctly support the upper body weight and keep the spine in a correct position, it has to be aligned this way: the imaginary line between the middle of the hip and an ankle has to be strictly vertical. In other words, it has to be perpendicular to the floor. Look at the pictures below: pelvis is pushed forward on the left, and positioned correctly on the right. Butt is tucked under on the left and has an immediate lift on the right.
Get Into Better Pelvic Position – Easy Tip for This Week
To achieve a better pelvic position, you need to start practicing whenever you have a chance.
Obviously, you cannot be checking yourself in the mirror all day long. Here is an easy solution instead:
- Stand with your feet parallel, hip-width apart.
- Drop your head down and look on your feet. When you can see just the top of your ankles (red circles), your butt moved into correct position. The good this about this method is that your body automatically knows what to do in order to see your ankles.
At first, practice it near a full-size mirror. Stand sideways to a mirror and look at yourself sideways. If your pelvis is pushed forward, practice the move above. Then look into the mirror again – the imaginary line between the middle of the hip and an ankle should be now perpendicular to the floor. You can use a stick to help with this process:
A word of warning. This method will not work if you have some body parts (a belly, for example) that hide your ankles from above. You will have to bend too much in order to see the ankles. It defeats the purpose of the upright posture. No worry though.
You still can start practicing by standing sideways to the mirror: looking at your body in profile bend VERY SLIGHTLY at your hips. When the imaginary line between the middle of the hip and an ankle is vertical, stop the bend. Try to remember this position to practice it without mirror.
In my next post I will give you more information on proper alignment. Stay tuned!
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3 Responses
Hii Natasha,
Really informative article !!
I have a question… while performing egoscue ecises such as “hooklying knee pillow squeezes”…. how do we place our pelvis….
I mean in any hooklying position … do we have to put pelvis in neutral …. if so then what does term “neutral pelvis” is related to egoscue…
In Pilates neutral pelvis means …. both ASIS( two bony hip bones near belly button) and pubic bone should be on the same level…
So my question is …. in egoscue while performing any ecise in hooklying position… do we have to make sure that our pelvis is in neutral??? Means both ASIS and pubic bone are on the same level??
Thanks
Nicky
Hi Nicky,
Great question! Thank you for asking.
The answer to it is that you start on the floor in a neutral pelvic position (as you said both ASIS and pubic bone on the same horizontal plane) and your neck in neutral.
To achieve this, put a narrow side of a yoga block under your head (not neck!) to keep your chin down and in line with the rest of your body. By raising your head up from the floor, you will be helping the muscles that run between the skull and the first and second vertebrae – the suboccipital muscles – to return to their appropriate length. It will improve the ribcage position as well. Relax your torso.
Then follow the instructions as in this video by Deb Preachuk, the owner of PainFree Posture MN. She used to be one of the instructors at Egoscue University some years back.
As Deb is saying in this video, when you squeeze the pillow between your knees and release, your pelvis will tilt slightly forward and back with each squeeze. To finally answer your question, allow this slight pelvic rocking to happen and pay attention to the rest of her cues.
Ok great!! I understand that we always have to start in neutral pelvis and then let the pelvis do it’s own work depending on the ecise…
Thanks a lot, Natasha… for your detailed answer… I really appreciate your prompt reply.. thanks