hey everybody it's Doctor Jo, and today I'm going to show you my top seven basic
pelvic stabilization exercises. so let's get started.
so these would be for stabilizing the pelvis if you
have some instability in there. maybe if you have some SI joint issues where
you've kind of gotten out of alignment. these are the exercises you want to do
after you get yourself back into alignment. so if you haven't subscribed
already make sure and click the button down there. and let's get started the
basic ones. we're gonna lay down. so we're just gonna start off with a simple
bridge. make sure you're comfortable you don't have to do these on the floor. you
can do them in your bed if your bed is firm, up on the couch, something like
that. so if you have a hard time getting up off the floor, you don't have to do
these on the floor. so for a bridge it's really simple, but you want to go nice
and slow and controlled. so have your feet about shoulder width apart and
you're just gonna slowly bring your bottom up. but kind of come one segment
at a time of your spine. so you don't have to stop at each segment, but you
want it to be a smooth control coming up and down. when you're coming up you don't
just want to push straight up, bring your knees forward that kind of helps work
those glutes to help stabilize the pelvis. and then nice and slow coming
down. so you can do just a little pause at the top. if you want to hold it for
three seconds or so or you can just kind of continuously come up and down, but
make sure you're controlling it. you're activating all those muscles, you're kind
of pushing forward when you come up. so you're not arching your back and you're
using those muscles that you're supposed to. so I would just start off with maybe
ten of these, and then you can slowly work your way up from there. so the next
one is going to be a clam shell. clam shells look pretty easy, but if you do
them correctly they're actually pretty tough. the side that you're working on is
going to be on top, but I would recommend if you're doing pelvic stabilization
exercise you want to do both sides. so you're gonna keep your feet together and
kind of pull them up so your knees are slightly in front of you. the feet are
gonna stay together the whole time and your top knee is just gonna come up.
but the important part of this is you want your hips to stay perpendicular to
the floor, or what you're lying on, the whole time. a lot of times when people
open up into the clamshell, they lean back like this, but then this isn't
really working those glute medius muscles that you want to. so when you're
coming up, try and keep this right there. so you don't have to come up high that's
usually where people start into roles when they try and come up they roll back
like that. if you feel like you're rolling the whole time you can lean up
against a wall, so then your your pelvis stays in place, but really try and just
bring that knee up and then slowly come back down.
so make sure you're comfortable lie on a pillow you know you don't want to stress
anything else out while you're doing it, but just opening up and then nice and
slow coming back down. so the coming down is just as important as the going up. so
don't just plop it back down, really try and control that motions the whole time.
so again just start off with about ten of those and then work your way up from
there. the next one is going to be a side plank. side planks can be pretty tough, so
you can start with it modified which would be on your knees, and then if that
becomes easy then you can do a full side plank. when you're doing a side plank, you
want your shoulder and your elbow to be pretty much in alignment because if you
move it in a different position that's going to put a lot of stress on your
shoulders, and you don't want your pelvis to start feeling good and then end up
having shoulder problems. so if you're doing the modified one on your knees, try
and get yourself pretty much in a straight line. my knees are slightly in
front of me because when I come up I'm gonna bring my pelvis forward just a
little bit, but you want to try and get yourself in a pretty straight line. so
you're not sagging down like this, you're not arching up really high like that, you
want to squeeze in those glute muscles so you get in that nice straight line. I
would just start off with holding this for maybe five to ten seconds. make sure
you're squeezing those muscles to hold it there and then come back down. you can
do maybe five or ten for five or ten seconds. if that's easy then you can go
into the full plank. so now you're just straightening out. you want again your
body to be in a completely straight line. and when you come up,
it needs to stay in that straight line. so again just kind of holding that. you
can put your hand up here if you need a little bit of support, you can put that
there, but you really want to try and hold it like this because if you can't
do that you probably need to do the modified position. so again maybe
starting off with 10 to 15 seconds then work your way up from there. so then the
next one you're gonna lie all the way down again, and you're gonna go into a
side-lying hip abduction. so this again is kind of working those pelvis muscles
all around that area. those gluts, glute Meads, so the top leg is now gonna be
straight. you can keep the bottom one bent just for support, but again you want
to keep your hips kind of perpendicular to the floor. if you're rolling back, then
you're not getting the muscles working that you need. when you lift your leg you
want to try to keep the leg straight and you want to lead with your heel going
slightly behind you. so it's not this, where my toes are coming up and not my
legs in front of me, it's going back that way.
so really activating those muscles when you go back, and even this way you don't
want those toes to come up, you want that heel to go up first as you're coming
slightly back behind you. so again just starting off with five or ten. if that
becomes easy, you can work your way up. if you get to 20-25, you can put a little
weight around your ankle. so the next one is just going to be side lying hip
circles. so you're in the same position. you want that same technique where
you're keeping those hips perpendicular, but this time you're just going to raise
your leg up just a little bit. it doesn't have to be super high, and you're just
gonna make circles with your leg. so you want the circles to be pretty straight
up and down, so when you go up and over it goes slightly behind you. the circles
don't have to be big, they can just be nice small circles. you can do ten one
way and then reverse it and do ten the other way. so don't feel like you have to
make big huge circles. you're just doing those small controlled circles, but keep
the front part in the front and the back of the circle in the back. so you're
really getting all those muscles working. so then the next one is
still in side lying. and this time you're just gonna do toe taps front to back. so
all the same stuff, still keeping that the pelvis in perpendicular alignment,
and this time if you want to put your other leg out you can to use it as a
target, but you don't have to. so you're just going to come up tap to the front,
come back up tap to the back. so you're just nice and controlled
tapping front to back. you can go a little slower than this if you want to, I
wouldn't go too much faster because then you're just going to start using
momentum instead of using your muscles for the control. so a slow steady motion
is probably the best. and I'd say again five taps on each side
total of ten. make sure you're flipping and doing the other side too for all
these exercises. so you're getting that strengthening on both sides. so the last
one you're gonna come up into all fours or quadruped. and so this one's kind of
silly, kind of funny because we call it fire hydrants. so it's kind of like it
sounds, if you see a dog going up to a fire hydrant. but when you're in
quadruped, you want to still make sure that your shoulders are pretty close to
level with your hands. you don't want your hands way out here. you don't want
them under there because you want to keep your shoulders nice and stable to
not hurt those very much. you want your back to be pretty straight. so it's not
sagging down it's not up like this, you have a good tilt in your pelvis you're
using that core to keep you nice and tight, and then all you're going to do is
just kind of like when you see a dog go up to a fire hydrant, and you're gonna
bring keep your knee bent and bring your leg out to the side. so just like this.
nice and slow come back down. try not to lean all the way over to that side. try
and keep yourself in a pretty good neutral position, and just bring that leg
up and out, and then nice and gently coming back in. so if you feel like your
hips are rotating, you're probably not ready for this, but really just coming
out. you don't have to go super high. and then coming back in. and then so again,
make sure you're doing both sides and you can just start off again
with maybe five on each side and then work your way up from there.
so there you have it those were my top seven basic pelvic stabilization
exercises. if you'd like to help support my channel, make sure and click on the
link up here, and don't forget to subscribe by clicking down here. and
remember, be safe (keep that pelvis stabilized), have fun, and I hope you feel
better soon.