The other day I saw a tarp over top of a shed with a few hanging flower planters attached to it. The weight of the planters was holding down the tarp equally on each side to cover the shed.
Now you’re thinking, ok so what does that have to do with exercise, the human body and physical therapy?
Don’t worry, I’m going to connect it!
We have a similar weighted pulley system in our bodies.
There are several different muscles that are attached to the pelvis that help keep it level much like the tarp over the shed with planters attached. These include the quadriceps, hamstrings, adductors and abductors.
If you picture this, then you can see why strength and some tension can be important in these muscles. The key is to get the appropriate amount of strength, length, tension and flexibility balanced amongst the various muscles groups.
If one of the planters was heavier than the other then you can easily see how the tarp would be pulled to one side making it uneven.
Similarly if our muscles are not providing the correct amount of pull down, one side or both sides of our pelvis can be tilted. Think about if both hamstrings are not taught on the back of the pelvis, then the pelvis tilts forwards.
Many people are quadricep (muscle on the front of the thigh) dominant and use these muscles moreso than some of the other muscles attached to the pelvis. This pulls the pelvis forward into an anterior tilt.
This is also why hamstring (muscle on the back of your thigh that attaches to the back of the pelvis) tension and strength are very important. They directly counter the pull of the quadriceps on the front. Though, most people’s hamstrings are not as strong as their quadriceps (and the hamstrings are over-stretched) so the quads win and pull the pelvis forward.
Have you been thinking stretching is what you need for your hamstrings?!
A lot of people’s hamstrings are actually holding on with everything they’ve got because they don’t have the appropriate length-tension relationship. So when you go to stretch them, they continue to stay tight or rebound to be tighter.
What’s the solution then? Strengthen your hamstrings!
You will notice that the tension automatically melts away when you appropriately strengthen your hamstrings (along with maintaining hip mobility through appropriate retaining exercises- see the hip mobility post for ideas). How cool is that?
Ok maybe you’re not as excited about it as I am, but now you know to stop over stretching your hamstrings and start strengthening them!
What about the other muscles around the pelvis? That’s for another post!