How to Do Pelvic Tilt Exercises During Pregnancy

Your body goes through so many changes during pregnancy, some more noticeable than others. And while you might not be able to see it, most expecting moms can certainly feel a change in their pelvis.

Most often this comes in the form of an anterior pelvic tilt, when the top of the pelvis moves forward and the bottom tilts back. This shift compensates for your growing baby belly but also puts pressure on the low back and causes a slew of not-so-fun aches, including pelvic pain.

While you can’t exactly prevent an increased pelvic tilt during pregnancy, doing certain movements can help to alleviate some of the symptoms and strengthen your abdominal muscles to more comfortably carry and deliver a baby. As always, check in with your practitioner prior to beginning any new exercises during pregnancy. 

What is a pelvic tilt?

The pelvis is made up of three bones: the hips, the coccyx (or the tailbone) and the sacrum (which sits directly above the tailbone). A pelvic tilt is an anatomical alignment of the pelvis that is anything other than neutral. 

Anterior pelvic tilt

With an anterior pelvic tilt, the top of the pelvis moves forward and down and the bottom tilts back and up — think arching your low back and thrusting your chest forward. 

To better understand what an anterior pelvic tilt looks like, consider a yoga position you may have done before: cow pose. When you’re on all fours exhaling and arching through the back to come into cow pose, that’s akin to an exaggerated anterior pelvic tilt.

With an anterior pelvic tilt, you’ll likely notice that your hip flexors are tighter, hamstrings lengthened and glutes weaker. All of the above, plus the naturally stretched and weakened core muscles during pregnancy, can often cause tightening, lower back pain and pelvic pain.

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Posterior pelvic tilt

Conversely, a posterior pelvic tilt is when the top of the pelvis moves backward and the bottom tilts forward — think clenching your butt and thrusting your hips forward. 

If you’ve done prenatal yoga, it’s almost like cat pose. When you inhale and tuck your belly button into your spine to create a cat-like rounded back, that’s equivalent to an exaggerated posterior pelvic tilt. 

Posterior pelvic tilt is more often seen during the postpartum period, as new moms tend to tuck their hips to avoid back pain or squeeze their glutes to prevent leakage, say, when sneezing, due to weakened pelvic floor muscles. Over time, this can lead to a weakness in the glutes and pelvic floor problems. Doing your Kegel exercises before, during and after pregnancy can help prevent and combat this issue.

Benefits of pelvic tilt exercises during pregnancy

The benefits of targeted pelvic tilt exercises are two-fold. In the short term, you can alleviate pain and stiffness and strengthen your core. Doing pelvic tilt exercises also prevents long-term issues by encouraging neutral alignment in the pelvis. 

Neutral alignment gives you the most amount of space in the pelvis and low back, which can relieve stress on the soft tissue and prevent muscle imbalances.

How to do pelvic tilt exercises

While no one exercise will "fix" a pelvic tilt or halt pain in its tracks, performing pelvic tilt exercises during pregnancy will help alleviate aches over time. Ideally, with consistent work, the natural alignment of your pelvis will move toward neutral. 

You’ll want to do strengthening exercises that address areas of weakness — like glute bridges and quadruped pelvic tilts — and movements that release tension, such as birth squats, foam rolling and happy baby stretch. 

What’s more, you also want to avoid exercises during pregnancy that exacerbate an existing anterior pelvic tilt. In other words, skip any movements that require even more spinal extension (like an arched back).

Glute bridge

Alyssa Sparacino

1. Begin laying on your back with feet planted about hip-width apart and knees pointed up. Your heels should be close enough to your butt that you can reach the back of your heels with your fingertips. 
2. Place a Pilates ball, yoga block or rolled towel between your inner thighs.
3. Inhale, then exhale to brace your core and squeeze the ball. Then press through your heels to lift your butt off the floor. Be careful not to over extend at the top, and avoid arching your back.
4. Slowly roll back down to your starting position, releasing the pelvic floor when your hips come to the ground.

Do 10 to 12 reps. Repeat up to three times with a short rest period of 15 to 20 seconds between sets for a more intense workout.

Quadruped pelvic tilts

Alyssa Sparacino

1. Begin on all fours with hands under shoulders and knees under hips. Your pelvis should be neutral. 
2. Inhale. Exhale to engage the core and pelvic floor, creating a sensation that you’re lifting and tucking your pelvis to bring the public bone toward your ribcage. Pause. Keep the rest of the body still to isolate the pelvis.
3. Inhale, and return to neutral.

Do 6 to 8 reps.

Birth squat 

Alyssa Sparacino

1. Stand with your feet slightly wider than hips and toes turned out slightly. Start to bend the knees and hinge your torso forward. 
2. Lower the pelvis down toward the floor, passing the knees so you are in a deep squat with heels grounded. (You can also place yoga blocks or a small Pilates ball under the pelvis for support.)

Aim to hold for at least 1 minute and 30 seconds to start. Work your way up to holding this position for up to 3 minutes.

Foam rolling

Alyssa Sparacino

1. To release tension in your inner thighs (aka adductor muscles, which originate at the front of your pelvis), start on your forearms in a plank position. Bend your right leg and place a foam roller under your right inner thigh. 
2. Slowly move the roller up and down the length of your inner thigh by rocking your body forward and back and using your elbows for support. 

Repeat on the left side.

Happy baby stretch

Alyssa Sparacino

1. Lay on your back, bend your knees up and out toward your shoulders, and lift your feet up so that your soles face the ceiling. Flex both feet.
2. Reach your hands through the inside of your legs, holding onto the inside of each foot.
3. Continue to bend the knees toward your shoulders while pressing the feet up into your hands and toward the ceiling. Lengthen your tailbone down to the floor. Focus on inhaling and releasing the space between the sit bones.