A Little Experiment…Assess Your Pelvic Tilt…
Let’s try a little exercise here. If you are in a place where you can stand up, then do so, if not, then try this exercise later.
First of all, take a few steps in place, then stop. This will set you in a natural standing posture for you. Keep your arms down to your sides. I want you to begin to notice where your weight is on your feet.
Is it on the front of your feet, or more toward your heels, or is it balanced?
Do you have more weight on the inside of your feet, or the outside, or is it balanced?
Do you have more weight on your left foot, or your right foot, or is it balanced?
Interesting, isn’t it? At any given time, you can notice what your unconscious postural tendencies are.
Now, make sure your feet are straight ahead, and without doing anything else, I want you to begin slowly contracting your butt muscles by squeezing them together. As you do this, notice what happens to your feet.
Did you notice what happens? We’re going to do it again, but this time, I want you to put your hands on the center of your thighs. Now, squeeze your butt muscles again, and watch and feel what happens to your hands.
Now, if you did this as instructed, you will have noticed that your hands move away from your mid-line as your thigh bone rotates outward. That is called external rotation of the thigh bone.
So, you are probably wondering what the heck that has to do with anything. What you just did was move your pelvis by activating your butt muscles! If you put enough tension in them to cause your thigh bones to externally rotate, then your pelvis went into posterior tilt. When this happens, it causes your lower spine to flatten.
What is the significance of this? Stand up again. If you are currently feeling discomfort in your lower back, then this will be an interesting test. Rank your level of discomfort on a 1 to 10 scale, with a 10 being the highest level of discomfort. Now, perform the posterior pelvic tilt again by gently squeezing your butt muscles until you have about a 75% of full contraction in them. Now while holding that position, rank your lower back discomfort.
What did you notice? Has it increased, stayed the same, or decreased? In my experience this motion creates at least some degree of reduced discomfort, and in many cases, almost complete reduction.
This resulting reduction in discomfort through movement of the pelvis communicates to us that perhaps your pelvic position is not ideal. Now, the opposite motion, tipping the pelvis forward into anterior tilt, may create relief if you have the opposite pelvic position.
These types of assessments can deliver an incredible amount of valuable information on what is currently happening in your body that may be contributing to your back pain, and also, HOW to reduce or eliminate it!
Sam Visnic–
Welcome back!
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"Having someone like Sam to refer my patients to who is as comprehensive, brilliant and caring as he is makes my job so much easier!! I feel assured that my patients are in good hands and are going to get the results they so desperately want. I highly recommend Sam to anyone who is looking to resolve their back pain easily and effectively!”
-Dr. Holly Lucille N.D., R.N. -
“I've used Sam on more than one occasion to help me with back pain issues. As a full time web designer I often spent too many hours sitting behind the pc which led to chronic back pain. I started working with Sam a few years ago and his knowledge and insight helped me to alleviate my back pain issues and even improve my posture. Whenever I start to have back pain issues I just re-implement the tools and techniques he showed to me and in no time my back pain goes away. He really is the back pain specialist!”
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Owner, Stellar Media Group -
“Sam is an excellent mind/body fitness coach & trainer. When it comes to eliminating complex back problems, Sam's your man. He is passionate about his work and dedicated to healing his clients. I highly recommend his services.”
-Michelle Armstrong
Author, "Manage Your Mind, Master Your Life" -
“In my experience it is rare to find a health practitioner who consistently cures the underlying issues, and successfully drives to total wellness. Sam has become our trusted family 'health support system' because he is one of those rare people. He has successfully helped my mother in law, sister, wife, daughter, and myself cure what western medicine has been unable to. We highly recommend Sam ... plus he's a cool guy !”
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Microsoft Partner, Dir UX -
“I was so impressed when working with Sam, from his detailed and thorough evaluation, to the great workouts and home exercises prescribed. I've referred a number of people to Sam and in the past we've used his DVD for gifts to patients for home care. I strongly recommend Sam's services and hope to be working with him personally at some time in the near future.
-Dr. Matt Costantino
HealthSource Chiropractic and Progressive Rehab