My notes on Anteverted Hips

Here is a picture showing anteverted hips:

Swayback usually results in the gluteal muscles being underused (atrophy). Hip extension in the prone position activates the hamstring muscles before the gluteal muscles. Should actively contract the gluteus at heel impact when walking. Predisposed to hamstring muscle strain. (Link, the hamstring info may refer to upper swayback instead of lower? I may have lordotic? Wiki says lordosis is common among dancers?) Update 11/16: Yes, I have "lumbar hyperlordosis": Lordosis is too much of a curve. My lordosis is in the lumbar/lower back region. Commonly known as "swayback". (There's another type of lordosis, seen in the first photo below, where the upper back can curve outwards too much. One can have lordosis of both the lower and upper back. Mine is only at the lower.)

Having hyperlordosis at one point in training does not mean that this will always be a problem, and care must be taken not to overcorrect and excessively reduce the lumbar curve. Strengthening the abs can help:

"Posteriorly, the spine forms a bony connection between the rib cage and pelvis. However, in the front, this connection is effected purely by the abdominal musculature. Because of this structure, the strength, resting length, and activation of the abdominal musculature are very critical in determining the distance between the rib cage and pelvis. That distance, in turn, affects the curvature of the lower spine and hence ideal alignment [/posture]."

In other words, when you strengthen your abs, the abs will draw up/tighten the torso, pulling the formerly outwards/backwards-tilted rear end in towards the abs and front of the body. The abs will draw up, pulling the front of the pelvis up with it.

"In addition [to the abs], lumbar lordosis may also involve low back and hip flexor (especially the iliopsoas) tightness as seen in 3.24A. If so, stretching the hip flexors and low back will also be necessary to improve the condition, and little improvement will be seen with just strengthening the [abs]." (Link)

 

Here is the link to the book the quotes and photos (excepting the very top one) above were taken from. I found all of this on a Google book search (something I'd forgotten a person can do!).

Reading all of this is very encouraging! I was getting rather disheartened today, thinking about how inadequate my bone structure seems to be. From all I read, it seemed like my back shape pretty much made it impossible for me to ever be good at ballet, so I should just go ahead and give up now. (And hey, a very small part of me was relieved: no more exercise! I can consider this another of my activities I've learned just enough about to convince me that I don't really want to continue doing it! All my life, that routine has repeated itself over and over and over again, and I've really not wanted it to happen again. I can feel myself already getting lazy... I can put off ballet now, I won't be any good.) NOPE! This is my New Self, and she is going to get off the damn computer, stop trying to find excuses, stop trying to convince herself she should just read about the hows all night, go put on my leotard, tights, and shoes, and get to practicing! (I'll continue as I have been, with less turnout than I was trying to go for, and being more aware of all of the things I have read. I'm not correcting much yet until I know more about to do it right. I don't want to jump right into different types of wrongness in my posture.)