I’ve recently come across posts on social media that really emphasize the femur or hip movement and how it opens the pelvis and makes more pelvic space. This is correct that different hip movements create different types of openings of the pelvis, but there is more than JUST the femur moving around–how your pelvis is positioned can influence how accessible external and internal rotation is for you.
In this blog, we are going to discuss how we can more easily find external rotation at the hip to create more pelvic space, especially in the top of the pelvis, and internal rotation at the hip to open the bottom of the pelvis.
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Essential Tips to Make More Pelvic Space: How Does the Pelvis Open?
There are three main pelvic levels, and each of these pelvic levels opens with a different type of movement pattern.
- Inlet: the top of the pelvis is the pelvic inlet. This level of the pelvis is where your baby first engages or enters the pelvis. You can create more space in the top of the pelvis with external rotation at the hip. Additionally, a posterior pelvic tilt (tucking the butt underneath) can create more space front to back, and an anterior pelvic tilt can make external rotation easier.
- Midpelvis: the middle of the pelvis is where your baby rotates. This level of the pelvis opens more with asymmetrical or side-to-side type movement patterns. The upper portion opens more with one-sided external rotation, such as open hip positions like an elevated lunge. While the lower portion opens more with one-sided internal rotation, such as hip-shifted positions.
- Outlet: the bottom of the pelvis is the pelvic outlet. This level of the pelvis is where your baby extends their head to be born. You can create more space in the bottom of the pelvis with internal rotation at the hip. Internal rotation is easier to achieve with some a slight posterior pelvic tilt!
So, as you can see, each pelvic level opens with different types of movement patterns–but more importantly, external and internal rotation is easier to achieve with different pelvic tilting motions.
It is a common misconception that since a posterior pelvic tilt creates more space in the pelvic inlet by shifting the sacral promontory (the junction between the sacrum and the lumbar spine) backward, an anterior pelvic tilt creates more space in the pelvic outlet. This is not true and is a misunderstanding of pelvic mechanics.
An anterior pelvic tilt does NOT open the pelvic outlet–in fact it may make internal rotation at the hip HARDER to achieve and limit space in the pelvic inlet.
It may be confusing that a posterior pelvic tilt creates space in BOTH the inlet and the outlet–these are two different pelvic levels, how can the same movement create space in BOTH levels?
In the inlet, a posterior pelvic tilt moves the sacral promontory backward which is what creates the space. But it’s not JUST a posterior pelvic tilt that we need to open the pelvic inlet–we also need an anterior pelvic tilt which helps make external rotation more accessible (and could create more space side to side in the pelvic inlet).
In the outlet, a posterior pelvic tilt can make internal rotation EASIER to achieve, so a posterior pelvic tilt can actually create more space by allowing for MORE internal rotation at the hip.
Let’s break down why pelvic position matters for internal and external rotation–and why when we are trying to create space in the pelvis we cannot ONLY think about the hip’s movement.
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Prepare for your birth with our online prenatal fitness programs. Our prenatal fitness programs are designed to support your pregnancy and birth preparation with strength exercises, pelvic stability exercises, and pelvic opening with birth preparation exercises. MamasteFit is unique in that we exclusively train in-person prenatal and postnatal fitness clients, in addition to our online clients. Similar to how you would choose a coach who specializes in a specific sport that you want to focus on, we specialize in perinatal fitness–this is the only population that we train, and we train prenatal clients in person at one of the only gyms in the United States that is solely focused on pre/postnatal fitness!
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External Rotation at the Hip: Create More Movement with an Anterior Pelvic Tilt
If you want to create more space in the top of the pelvis, you want to find more external rotation at the hip, or wide knees. This position creates more space side-to-side in the pelvic inlet. But, as we have stated, the femur cannot move in isolation! We also need to adjust our pelvic position to make the rotation of the femur more accessible.
Hopefully, you are beginning to notice after following our Instagram and reading our blog (maybe taking our online courses) that movement rarely happens in isolation–there are usually multiple movement patterns happening at the same time to create space.
External rotation at the hip tends to be easier to find with an anterior pelvic tilt or arched back position. This position is the orientation that the pelvis takes when we find external rotation.
Think about when you are squatting. As you stand up from the bottom of the squat, you are finding more external rotation and extension (arch in the back). This is because this is a power position. Finding external rotation at the hip and extension helps us generate power for our lifts!
If you are finding that your external rotation feels limited, try arching your back to see if you can access more movement capability.
Internal Rotation at the Hip: Create More Movement with an Posterior Pelvic Tilt
For the bottom half of the pelvis, we need more internal rotation at the hip–this helps to spread the ischial tuberosities (sitz bones) further apart to create that lateral space. But, similar to external rotation at the hip, it’s not JUST the femur movement–we also need to consider the pelvic position. Internal rotation at the hip is easier to achieve with a posterior pelvic tilt or rounded back position.
During pregnancy, this movement pattern may feel less accessible as it is the opposite of our common postural tendency of external rotation and an anterior pelvic tilt. You may find it beneficial to focus on incorporating exercises that emphasize a posterior pelvic tilt and internal rotation at the hip, such as the back expansion breathing drill.
This breathing drill is a part of the MamasteFit Birth Prep Circuit, which targets common areas of restriction during pregnancy to prepare your body for birth. Watch the video below for a breakdown of how to do this exercise.
How the Pelvis Shifts Positions with Open and Closed Hip Positions
As we have discussed, there are usually multiple movement patterns happening at once that influence our overall movement–and specifically to birth, creating more space in the pelvic levels. Rarely do we move with isolated movement patterns.
So, we are rarely ONLY doing external rotation at the hip, or only doing internal rotation at the hip.
When we are walking or shifting weight from leg to leg, or pelvic position is shifting and torquing.
Opening the Upper Pelvis:
When we are walking, from extension to swing that leg is in external rotation at the hip with an anterior pelvic tilt and abduction. So, when the pelvic half is in an open position (abduction is away from the midline), then we tend to find more external rotation at the hip with an anterior pelvic tilt. Notice that there are three movements happening together, and the combo of those movements changes what is happening in the pelvic levels. Abduction by itself can close the pelvic inlet; but in combination with external rotation and an anterior pelvic tilt, it opens the pelvic inlet.
Opening the Lower Pelvis:
When we put weight into one leg or find a closed hip position, that pelvic half rotates backward into a posterior pelvic tilt, with internal rotation and adduction. In isolation, each of those movement patterns may have a different influence on the pelvic levels–adduction by itself may actually open the inlet. But adduction in combination with internal rotation and a posterior pelvic tilt, it creates more space in the pelvic outlet.
Hopefully, these images help you visualize this, but I understand it can be a difficult concept to grasp with just text and some photos. If you want to dive deeper into this, we break it down in more depth in our online childbirth education course and our pre/postnatal fitness trainer course for our fitness professionals. We will also film a YouTube video soon to illustrate this more for you!
Pelvic Opening is More Than Just Hip Movement!
There is no one movement that opens the entire pelvis–and there are not many movements that are done in isolation. Movement patterns are frequently combined to create space in the pelvis!
The top of the pelvis opens more with external rotation at the hip, in combination with an anterior pelvic tilt making that external rotation easier, but also a posterior pelvic tilt to help move the sacral promontory backward. Additionally, the upper half of the pelvis can open more by combining external rotation at the hip with an anterior pelvic tilt AND abduction.
The bottom of the pelvis opens more with internal rotation at the hip, in combination with a posterior pelvic tilt, making internal rotation easier. Additionally, the lower half of the pelvis can open more with adduction in combination with the internal rotation and posterior pelvic tilt.
There is a lot of debate on what biomechanical movement patterns do in our bodies–but what’s really cool is during your labor, you will move in a way that tends to create the space YOU NEED during your labor without anyone else telling you what’s right or wrong. It can be hard to trust your intuition when you may feel like someone else needs to give you permission to just eat food in your pregnancy but know that you do know what is best for you–try to find a way to trust that.
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