About Pelvic Misalignment

The pelvis is at your centre: it supports the spine, and legs and a huge range of muscles attach to it.  If it is misaligned many of the central connections of the body will be under strain and being pulled in directions they shouldn't be. It can make one leg longer than the other, which will cause problems with your gait, which may impact on different parts of the body - this is not a true leg-length difference, but an apparent one caused by pelvic misalignment.

How can the pelvis become misaligned?
Accidents and injuries are frequent causes, e.g. side impact, lifting whilst twisting, or falling heavily on one side; as are carrying heavy loads on one side, e.g. a child on one hip or a heavy bag continually on one shoulder.  In women, the pelvis is inherantly less stable than in men, as it is designed to be flexible for childbirth, and problems occurring during pregnancy and particularly labour are a major cause of pelvic misalignment in women.

What problems can a misaligned pelvis cause?
Sometimes the symptoms are very severe, whereas in other cases there may be few, if any, noticeable immediate problems. 

At a minor level, a person might feel 'wonky' or unbalanced, or might start falling over more frequently.
More major symptoms may include pain in the:
  • back (which may or may not include sciatica)
  • hips, sacro-illiac joints or groin
  • knees, ankles, feet or achilles tendons
  • shoulders or neck.
If the pelvis is misaligned for any length of time, the body will adjust and compensate for the 'wonkiness' and muscles, tendons and ligaments will adapt accordingly. This can cause problems to develop over time. It can also make the misalignment difficult to correct, as the body has developed new patterns.  So the longer the problem has been around, the harder it will be to correct .... but with carefully tailored exercises the body can change again, so that it holds the pelvis in the correct position.