3 Lateral Pelvic Tilt Exercises: Causes, Symptoms, Test & More

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January 4, 2022

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What Is Lateral Pelvic Tilt?

When the pelvic bone gets in an abnormal position, it is called tilted pelvic or pelvic tilt. In the ideal condition, the pelvic bone sits neutrally inside the pelvis. When there is an issue with the pelvic bone’s alignment, you develop pelvic tilt. In medical terms, this condition is known as pelvic misalignment.

There can be either structural or functional problems in your legs that become the cause of pelvic tilt. On the basis of structural or functional problems, this condition is differentiated into the following three types:

Anterior Pelvic Tilt
Lateral Pelvic Tilt
Posterior Pelvic Tilt

When this misalignment of the pelvic bone happens side-to-side, the condition is called the lateral pelvic tilt. If you have lateral pelvic tilt, your one hip will be positioned higher than the other.

The lateral pelvic tilt is further differentiated into two types: left lateral tilt and right lateral tilt. Left lateral pelvic rotation happens when your right hip is positioned higher and the right lateral pelvic tilt happens when your left hip is positioned higher. Thankfully, you can do lateral pelvic tilt correction with the help of certain exercises.

Lateral Pelvic Tilt Symptoms

It is not always necessary that lateral pelvic tilt will cause some lateral pelvic tilt symptoms. If the misalignment is only mild, you might not experience any symptoms of lateral pelvic tilt. However, if the tilt is high, you will experience the following symptoms of lateral pelvic tilt:

Pain while walking
Headache
Weakness or numbness in legs
Pain in the lower back
Hip pain

Lateral Pelvic Tilt Causes

Knowing the causes first will help you learn how to fix lateral pelvic tilt later. Here is a list of the most common pelvic tilt causes:

Incorrect Posture Habits: If you sit in an incorrect position for hours, the tissues present in your spine, neck, pelvis, legs, etc. will adapt to this new position. So, if you sit in your office chair or couch at home with incorrect posture, you might be pushing your body to lateral pelvic tilt.
Structural Disorders: Disorders that cause a change in the structure of your body can also lead to lateral pelvic tilt. For example, structural scoliosis is one of the most common disorders that give rise to lateral pelvic tilt.
Muscular Imbalances: If your muscles get imbalanced for some reason, you might develop right or left lateral pelvic rotation. A few major muscle groups that can be responsible for lateral pelvic tilt are Quadratus Lumborum, Adductors, Gluteus medius, Obliques, and Tensor fascia latae.

A few other common lateral pelvic tilt causes are:

Functional disorders
Leg length discrepancy
Neurological conditions

Lateral Pelvic Tilt Test

If you want to find out whether the pain in your hip is caused by a lateral pelvic tilt or not, you can take the help of the following lateral pelvic tilt test:

Stand in front of a large-size mirror. Your feet should be at a shoulder-wide distance from each other.
Position the heels of your hands on your anterior superior iliac spine (the front part of your hip bones).
Now, you have to imagine a horizontal line that is running between your hands.
If this imaginary line is not running parallel to the ground, you have some type of lateral pelvic tilt. Your condition can either be left or right lateral pelvic tilt.

How To Sleep With Lateral Pelvic Tilt

An important part of the lateral pelvic tilt fix is knowing how to sleep with lateral pelvic tilt. It can help push the pelvic bone towards the neutral position. If you sleep straight on your back, you can put a blanket or a large pillow under your knees.

If you have a habit of sleeping on your stomach, you can do lateral pelvic tilt fix by putting a pillow under your hips. This will help in reducing the tilted curvature of your lower back. And if you sleep on your side in a fetal position, you do not have to do anything extra for lateral pelvic tilt correction.

How To Fix Lateral Pelvic Tilt

If you have to go to a chiropractor to seek a lateral pelvic tilt chiropractor fix, he or she will suggest you do some exercises that will push your pelvic bone in the right position. Here are some of the most common exercises included in lateral pelvic tilt chiropractor fix:

Reverse Leg Raises

Regarded as one of the best lateral pelvic tilt exercises, reverse leg raises can improve the mobility of your hips. It also helps in reducing the lateral pelvic tilt pain. If the position of your hip is changed because of weak muscles, this exercise is going to fix it.

Lie down on your stomach, move your hands forward and place your forehead on them.
Tighten your gluteus muscles and lift one leg in the air. Remember that you have to keep the knee straight while lifting the leg.
Hold this position for around 2-5 sec. and then bring the leg back on the ground.
Switch the leg and complete 12 reps of this exercise for beginners.

Reverse Standing Leg Raises

If you want to improve your balance along with treating your problem, reverse standing leg raises are one of the lateral pelvic tilt exercises best for you. Here is how you can do it:

Hold onto a wall with your back facing the wall, tighten your abdominal muscles, and lift one leg.
Lift your leg as high as possible. Meanwhile, make sure that you do not arch your back.
Now, lower your leg until the toe touches the ground.
Switch the legs and do 12 reps of reverse standing leg raises.

Hip Hike

If you want to reduce your lateral pelvic tilt pain, this beginner-friendly exercise is going to help you:

Take a small box and stand sideways on it with the leg where your pelvis is higher.
Keep the spine straight and push down on the floor.
Hold this hip hike pose for at least 10 seconds and then return to the position where you started the exercise.
Do 5 to 10 reps of this lateral pelvic tilt exercise for best results.

Conclusion

Treating a mild lateral pelvic tilt is easy with the help of exercises and sleeping in the right position. If the pain persists, you can consult a chiropractor. However, if you diagnose the problem at the right time, lateral pelvic tilt exercises are enough to reduce the pain and bring the pelvic bone back to its ideal position.

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