Improve Your Pelvic Stability Through Pilates

When running, cycling or swimming, we want to ensure we’re working the right muscles and body parts equally to maximise our power output.

However, a common issue amongst athletes in all sports is pelvic instability, which causes overuse of the pelvis and consequently impacts on their performance.

This movement of the pelvis occurs when the core muscles are not strong enough to maintain stability as well as when there is muscle imbalance, which in turn has two main impacts – it can cause pain, and it can have an impact on an athletes performance.

Let's look at pain first.

Movement of the pelvis can result in overuse of the back muscles, resulting in fatigue in the back as well as back pain. Additionally, if the athlete can’t manage the rotation of their lumbar spine that is occurring due to pelvic instability, it will put pressure on the lumbar discs.

It is also important to note that an athlete may start out with good pelvic stability, however as they start to get tired, they can lose form and then pelvic instability can occur.

The other impact we mentioned was that the athlete’s optimal performance levels aren't achieved due to wasted power.

Newton stated that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. If we apply this to cycling, for example, then each time the cyclists' legs push down into the pedals, an equal and opposite force is generated up into the trunk.

Remember, you can’t shoot a cannon whilst sitting on a canoe in water. If your core muscles (powerhouse) are not strong enough to keep your pelvis still, then your pelvis will wobble, which will result in you losing power and not being able to exert the maximum amount of power down into the pedals.