Friday Q&A: Scooping the Tailbone?

Q: I have heard that using the cue "scoop the tailbone" is passé, because people tend to over tuck their tailbones already. There is a class I attend where this cue is given A LOT—for tons of poses—tree, chair, etc. Is this cue "out" and is it ever appropriate? Thanks! Is there any research behind using or not scooping the tailbone? I tend to not. I hear point the pubic bone down.

A: This is a very relevant question, for, as our questioner points out, the concept of “scooping the tailbone” is being taught in many quarters. Certain modern yoga teachers, some with large followings, teach this as an important action when doing many poses.  And although I think there are certain circumstances in which this action (which anatomically would be called “retroversion” of the pelvis relative to the femur bones— more on that later!), is appropriate, I believe it is sometimes drastically overused.

In order to get a better idea of why I feel that way, you need to have an understanding of how the pelvis and sacrum, as a unit or team, are typically and most healthfully situated over the upper leg bones. In a person with good, even posture—meaning appropriate spinal curves in the lower back, rib cage and neck, and the head balanced over the torso,—the pelvic team has a slight forward tip on the leg bones, or “anteversion,” which can be seen from the side as the lumbar (lower back) arch moving forward toward the navel. Esther Gokhale, a yoga teacher and anthropologist, has pointed out by looking at indigenous peoples and ancient sculptures of human posture, our balanced posture has a slight forward tip of the pelvis, and the sacrum and buttocks stick back a bit, in what she refers to as the “duck butt.”

Woman Carrying Laundry
(from Wikimedia Commons)

On my travels to places like Bali and India, where I observed people carrying bundles on their heads regularly, this postural alignment was obvious. In these cultures, rates of lower back pain are extremely low. So, from this “ideal” orientation of the pelvis, we can surmise that scooping the tailbone, in such positions as Tadasana (Mountain pose), would encourage the opposite pelvic team movement, that being a backward rotation or retroversion of the pelvis. From a spinal health perspective, this will encourage flexion of the lumbar spine, or backward curve, which puts the lumbar discs in a more vulnerable position, far more prone to injury. 

Additionally, Judith Lasater points out in her book Yoga Body, that when we move into back-bending shapes, the part of the pelvis known as the sacrum follows that movement by anteverting a bit more than in neutral standing positions, just the opposite of the effect of “scooping the tailbone.” Conversely, when moving into forward folds, Judith notes that the sacrum goes into a bit of retroversion, which is the direction that an instruction such as “scoop the tailbone” would take you. But you don’t actually have to say that because the body does it almost automatically to keep the rhythm of such movements harmonious with the kinesthetic (movement) wisdom of the body. This movement of the sacrum has a fancy name in anatomy circles: “nutation” (which includes anteversion) and “counter-nutation” (which includes retroversion). This can get a bit confusing, like in the situation of going from Mountain pose to Standing Forward Bend, when the pelvic team is going into anteversion over the femurs (thigh bones) for most of the forward folding action, but the sacrum might be tipping back into a bit of retroversion relative to the right and left pelvic bones. If you want to get clearer on this, please check out Yoga Body for more details. Let’s suffice it to say that I don’t see the need for additional instruction of scooping in the vast majority of situations.

The exception to this general guideline occurs in yoga practitioners with a more exaggerated lower back arch or lumbar lordosis (sometimes called “hyperlordosis”). This is especially true if this situation results in pain the lower back for such a student. In these cases, I will sometimes encourage the slight retroversion of the pelvis by suggesting that he or she should draw the tailbone down to the floor. This tends to create a bit less retroversion than “scoop the tailbone” might, and can still allow for the lumbar area to have a smaller version of its normal curve. If this action results in improved symptoms, I will have them practice it more regularly.

The other exception would be in those with a particular kind of arthritis of the spine involving the posterior “facet joints” that lie in the back half of the vertebrae and come closer together when the spine goes into back-bending actions, known as “extension” between two vertebrae. By encouraging a bit of retroversion of the pelvic team in backbends, some students with facet arthritis in the lumbar area may be able to do a bit more back-bending without flaring their arthritis. In general, these practitioners would want to start with small, beginning level backbends anyway, and only advance if symptoms permit. There might be more exceptions, but these two are fairly common, so worth the mention.

Notice in your home practice or public classes this week what your pelvic team is up to and see if these ideas are true for you. I am sure there other ideas out there on this topic, so feel free to share you insights via our comments.

—Baxter

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Tucking and Tilting the Pelvis

by Baxter

We recently received an inquiry about positioning the pelvis in yoga poses that I thought it worth addressing in a general, full-length post. Let’s start with the question:

Dear YFHA Staff,

The phrases "Tuck in and Tuck out" are very commonly used by several of my teachers. I get so confused listening to those words that these days the minute I hear anything close to "Tuck" my meditative yoga practice goes for a ride. What are the teachers referring to when they use those words? Are they alluding to the movement of sacrum? For eg: in Bridge pose and other supine poses, do you draw the sacrum in (I guess the word is Tuck in) or do you draw it out? Can't we just keep the sacrum in neutral position and still get the benefits of the supine poses?

Yes, dear reader, there is a lot of talk about “tucking” the pelvis these days in the yoga world! Although I don’t hear or use the same exact phraseology as you teachers are using, I think I have a sense of what they are going for. I might suggest the terms “tipping” and “tucking” of the pelvis, as a whole, for what is being suggested. In anatomical terms, the action can take place relative to the top of the upper leg bone, the femur bone.

When you “tip” the pelvis, this means you are rolling it forward and down over the head of the femur, in what is referred to in anatomical circles as anteversion or flexion at the hip joint. This happens to some extent in forward bending poses, like Uttanasana (Standing Forward Bend), when we roll the hips forward and down to initiate the forward bend.This movement also encourages the forward rounding of the lumbar vertebrae due to the effect of gravity, known as flexion of the lumbar spine, in the specific situation of Uttanasana. Yet we are also sometimes encouraged to extend the lower spine, as in a backbend, when entering into some forward bends. In other words, as the pelvis is rolling forward over the thighbones, we simultaneously extend the rest of the spine as in a backbend. This can be a useful suggestion in some lower back injury situations, or if you are focusing on strengthening the extensors of the back body. But it could be just as helpful in some cases, to allow the natural flexion of the lower back in Uttanasana accompany the anteversion of the pelvis.

Tipping the Pelvis (Uttanasana)

The other action, which I call “tucking” of the pelvis, is essentially the opposite action, in which the pelvis rolls backwards over the head of the femur bone.  Anatomically, this is called retroversion or extension of the pelvis. It is an essential action, at least to some extent, when we are trying to do some of our back bending poses, like Dhanurasana (Bow pose) or Urdhva Dhanurasana (Upward Bow pose), which require some length and opening at the front of the hip joint to successfully achieve these more advanced backbends. Just like with tipping, the spine may have a natural inclination that accompanies tucking, like some extension of the spine if we are trying to do Upward Bow or Wheel pose. However, if you observe someone standing in Mountain pose, and ask them to exaggerate the tuck, you will notice that the lower spine rounds back, which actually means the vertebrae are tipping forward into flexion. If you then ask the person to tip the pelvis forward, you will see that the lower spine goes into a backbend shape, bowing forward towards the navel. This indicates that the lower spine is going into some extension.

Tucking the Pelvis (Backbend)

Playing with this movement of the pelvis in Mountain pose is a good way to begin to feel these actions and the results at both the hip joint and the lower spine. You might also start to sense if one way feels more typical of how you hold your pelvis relative to you upper leg bones when standing.  If your teacher was suggesting that more tip or tuck would be better for you, see if his or her suggestion actually does what predicted. Be a little skeptical, especially if you are working with a newer teacher. There is a lot of subtlety to this pelvic alignment, and it first it will likely feel a bit strange, even if it ultimately might lead to better posture and lower back alignment. When looking at supine poses, done lying on your back, face up, you will want to do the same experimenting to see what works best for you.

And I have not even mentioned the movements that can happen between the pelvis and the sacrum, known as nutation and counternutation! Shari and I have written some about that elsewhere, so take a re-read of some of those posts (Friday Q&A: Trikonasana, Janu Sirsasana and the Sacrum and Yoga and the Sacrum if you are not familiar with these terms. Judith Lasater, in her book Yoga Body, has a discussion of what happens in regards to these two actions in forward and back bending poses. There is some controversy about how much nutation and counternutation actually take place in adults in yoga poses, but there is a lot of variability in how much “intra-pelvic” movement (between just the two pelvis bones and the sacrum bone) between individuals from my observations. It is always wise to get the opinion of an experienced teacher who can watch your body move in different poses to see where your fall in this regard.

I would also suggest that you directly ask your teacher to stop and demonstrate the actions of tucking so you can get a clearer idea of what he or she is talking about. Sometimes I find that without that clarity, I am just guessing as to what the teacher wants me to experience. And it would also be reasonable to ask why he or she feels this is important to experience. So, ask the how and the why when these sorts of instructions are creating more confusion than clarity, and rock that pelvis on.

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