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Mia Garlock
Sep 28, 20224 min read

My Hips, My Back…

No, I’m not singing that song. I’m talking about my actual bones.

In order for you to understand what all I’m going to talk about, we’re going to talk about pregnancy and breastfeeding really quick. I’ve had 3 kids, it’s relevant, in fact almost causal, so just a few details.

During pregnancy, the body creates a hormone called Relaxin, which does exactly what its name suggests- it relaxes. No not Mom, but Mom’s bones and joints. The female pelvis is designed to separate during child birth, to allow baby to pass through the birth canal. Super fun stuff. Relaxin can take months to dissipate anyway, but when you’re also breastfeeding- your body continues to produce small amounts of relaxin. So now, enter extended breastfeeding, or breastfeeding beyond a year old. That means the body has been producing relaxin for not only the 9 month pregnancy, but also the year+ of breastfeeding. Thats a lot of bone and tissue softening hormone production.

So we’ve established hormones as a key player. Now, let’s also talk about posture during pregnancy. The hips widen as baby drops farther down onto the cervix as the end of pregnancy approaches. This widening of the hips, and the added weight so low in the abdomen, creates pressure, that can cause the pelvis to tilt forward, also called an Anterior Pelvic Tilt. This is especially true if the low abdominals are weak.

Now let’s add in pelvic floor and low abdominal weakness from multiple pregnancies. What we end up with, is a body with low to no abdominal strength, some abdominal separation, years of relaxin hormone sitting in the joints and bones, and a severe anterior pelvic tilt.

Hold all that information in the back of your head for a minute. Think about the Human spine, all its vertebrae and the cushy disks between them, how a spine moves, how it feels when you need a chiropractic adjustment because one of those is out of place. The pelvis is attached to our spine, and because of the way the spine works, all vertebrae depending on each other; we can easily add in a misaligned pelvis to that math and determine that there are vertebrae that are being affected and even compromised by that pelvic tilt.

Let’s recap: multiple pregnancies, weak core muscles, too much relaxin hormone, soft bones and joints, anterior pelvic tilt, compromised vertebrae. Add all of those things together, and you’ve got what we think I’m working against. All those years of relaxin hormone lingering in my joints and bones, combined with that pelvic tilt and weak core muscles, has lead to the shape of some of my vertebrae being rounder, and weaker, due to the pressure the pelvic tilt placed on them.

All of these reasons culminate in a pinching pain-turns-ache, in my low back when I am not actively pursuing low core engagement, and pulling my pelvis forward during any activity.

Yes, it feels really awkward for me, I feel like in order for me to have proper posture I have to lead the way into every room with my pubic bone. Its weird and it makes me self conscious. But in doing this posture correction, I’ve noticed how other areas of my spine are affected. When I pull my pelvis forward and engage my low core, I automatically roll my shoulders back, I raise my neck to stand at my full height. I am literally taller, just by correcting my hip placement. I stand at 5’7″ with my hips wrong, but I’m 5’8″ when I stand correctly. I gained a whole inch in height by changing my hip position and stacking my spine properly.

ALL THAT SAID, phew, that was a lot. Anyway, the only real solution to all this wear and tear on my body, is to do a deep core and low core focus every day. We are wrapping up the final week of Novice month and its been a debate for me if I’m going to move onto Blade or linger in Novice for a bit. At the risk of sounding like an old lady, I don’t want to hurt myself if I’m not ready to move on and I do so too soon. I’ve hurt myself enough in my 34 years, now its about repair and preservation.

I’m working on a customized schedule for myself to repeat Novice Month, with Core Reset as a focus. The first 2 weeks of Novice are not intense and heavy, so I plan on boosting those by using the Core Reset and Hip Mobility as my warm ups. On days where the workout is short or I feel like I can do more, I’ll throw in some boxing drills from Blade, and go through the bonus videos for self defense and combinations.

My version will be a Spicy Novice, not that this month wasn’t already kicking my ass, but I have more work to do before I can fully move on to the next level. I need to focus on correcting my hips and strengthening my low core, and thats what October will be for me.

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