Your Tilted, Twisted Pelvis and the Low Back Pain it Causes

Everyone who comes into my office for low back pain has a tilted, twisted pelvis. In fact, just about anyone who goes into any chiropractic office for low back pain has a tilted, twisted pelvis

The pelvis works as one giant mechanism, consisting of two pelvic bones and the sacrum. Each pelvic bone is actually three smaller bones fused together:

The ilium – the upper part of the pelvic bone. You can feel the crest of this bone right below each kidney.

The ischium – the lower part of the pelvic bone, essentially your butt bone.

The pubis – the front part of the pelvic bone, the bone located above the genitalia.

The two pelvic bones connect in the front by cartilage called the pubic symphysis. In the back, each pelvic bone connects to either side of the sacrum, and this is the sacroiliac joint.

I explain all this to illustrate how the pelvis moves as a whole. When the left side of the pelvic bone misaligns in a backward tilt, the right side will tilt forward, and vise versa. Accompanying the tilting motion, there is also a slight twisting component in the dysfunctional alignment.

If you stand in front of a mirror where you can see yourself from the hips up, if one side of your pelvis is higher, that is typically the side tilting forward and the low side is tilting backward. I say typically because there are instances of compensation due to pain that can change this up.

From what I’ve seen over the years in practice, and from my own personal experience, a forward tilting pelvic bone can be very excruciating. Not that a backward tilting pelvic bone can’t be, but a forward tilt can lead to intense low back pain and sciatica if left unattended for days, months, or years at a time.

If you’re having intense low back pain, and/or a tilted pelvis when looking into the mirror, the time to get a chiropractic adjustment is definitely sooner than later.

• 
• 
• 
• 
•