How to Fix Uneven Hips (Lateral Pelvic Tilt)
Rheannon Reid
Shakira’s hips don’t lie… but yours might be trying to tell you something.
Uneven hips can lead to low back pain, hip discomfort, and one-sided tightness that never seems to go away. If one side of your low back always feels tighter than the other, your pelvic positioning and movement patterns are likely playing a role.
Let’s talk about yours, you sexy thing! Keep reading as we break down what uneven hips actually are, the causes, and what you can do to fix them.
What Is a Lateral Pelvic Tilt (Uneven Hips)?
Uneven hips, also known as a lateral pelvic tilt, occur when one hip sits higher than the other. Most people have uneven hips because they function in a way that puts uneven pressure on their pelvis.
We all need to be able to tilt, twist, and move our hips freely. The problem is not movement. The problem is getting stuck in one position and living there. When your pelvis shifts, it often creates the kind of compensations we break down in our guide on how to fix lower back and hip pain.
While structural issues like scoliosis or leg length differences can contribute, most people develop uneven hips from:
- habitual posture
- shifting weight into one side
- poor movement patterns
- muscle imbalances over time
When poor posture becomes your ‘normal’ and you sit or stand in the same default position every day for months and years on end, your muscles are going to be affected. Some will get shorter and tighter, while others will weaken.
“I enrolled in MoveU because I had dealt with chronic low back, hip and glute pain for over 6 years. I put all my focus into the program. In one week I felt a difference. In 3 months my hope was completely restored. By 6 months I was living pain free. I went days without feeling an uncomfortable sensation or pain. I even stopped worrying about sneezing or running around in the snow with my dog. All these things would have sent me to the couch previously.” - Karly B, MoveU Member
Why One Side of Your Low Back Feels Tighter Than the Other
When your pelvis shifts or one hip sits higher, your body still needs to stay upright and stable. To do that, certain muscles take on more work than they should. One of the main players here is the quadratus lumborum (QL). When one side of your pelvis is elevated or you consistently load one leg more than the other, the QL on that side works overtime to keep you upright.
Over time, that muscle can feel constantly tight, stiff, or even painful. Not because it is the problem, but because it is doing too much. Stretching it might feel good temporarily, but if the underlying imbalance stays the same, the tightness keeps coming back.
Targeted self-release can help calm down that overworked side between training sessions. Tools like the QL Claw (our personal favorite) are designed to apply focused pressure to areas like the QL and deep hip muscles that are difficult to reach with a foam roller. You can check it out and get 20% off through our link if you want to use it as part of your routine.
How Do Uneven Hips Affect Your Posture?
Uneven hips often show up alongside posture patterns that affect how your pelvis interacts with your spine. One common pattern is anterior pelvic tilt, where the pelvis rotates forward and increases the arch in your lower back.
When your hips are uneven, your body compensates:
- your spine shifts
- your core stabilizers work harder
- your low back muscles overcompensate
Over time, this can lead to low back pain, hip discomfort, and inefficient movement patterns.
What Causes Uneven Hips?
Everything in your body is connected, and uneven hips are usually the result of multiple factors working together.
Common contributors include:
- scoliosis
- lifting incorrectly in the gym
- difference in the length
- poor posture and habitual positioning
- carrying weight on one side (bags, kids, etc.)
- tight adductors (groin muscles)
- weak glute medius
- fallen arches in your feet
Tight Quadratus Lumborum (QL). When one hip sits higher or you consistently shift your weight into one side, the QL on that side often works overtime to stabilize your pelvis. Over time it can feel constantly tight because it is doing more than its share of the work. It becomes a cycle. Weak and tight muscles lead to uneven hips. Uneven hips reinforce poor movement patterns. And those patterns continue to drive imbalance.
Targeted self-release can help reduce that tension between training sessions. Tools like the QL Claw can apply focused pressure to this area and surrounding deep hip muscles that are difficult to reach with a foam roller.
Assist like these can be so helpful for preparing the body to do the work of improving strength and mobility. Remember that long-term change comes from restoring even hip positioning and building strength so both sides of your body contribute.
What Proper Hip Alignment Looks Like
From the front and back, your pelvis should be level and parallel to the ground. From the side, your hips should sit in a neutral position. Not tucked under. Not excessively arched. We're looking for a Goldilocks zone somewhere in the middle.
You are not trying to eliminate movement. You are trying to control it.
Hip Alignment Test
If standing in front of a mirror to see if you have uneven hips didn’t quite work for you, try one of these tests.
TRENDELENBURG GAIT
Test for a lateral hip drop. Stand in front of a mirror or have a friend take a video of you. Lift one leg so your knee and foot are parallel to the floor and hold that pose for 30 seconds. Then repeat this motion on your other leg.
If your pelvis drops instead of staying level, it is often a sign that the glute medius is not stabilizing well.
SQUAT TEST
For this test, you’re going to want to perform a squat. You should be looking for any shifting left to right. You can squat in front of a mirror, but it’ll be easier to detect if you have a friend filming you from behind (or set your camera up to film yourself).
If your hips shift to one side, that is a sign your body is favoring one side over the other.
"I have lived with chronic recurring injuries in my lower back, shoulders and neck for almost two decades...MoveU has changed my life forever. The programs have empowered me with the knowledge of how to move and use my own body, how to address and improve chronic pain and poor movement, and how to move forward from that stagnant place that I was in. I am now able to return to my very active lifestyle pain free, but also fear free." - Reid, MoveU Member
How To Fix Uneven Hips
To fix your uneven hips, you need to both strengthen weak muscles and stretch/mobilize tight muscles.
You also need to increase your body awareness. It’s so easy to just mindlessly go through your day, but start paying attention to how you sit, how you stand, and how you carry things like backpacks. Are you rounding or hunching forward? Do you have your weight placed onto one foot more than the other? Are your hips tilted or shifted over toward one side more than the other?
These kinds of asymmetry are posture issues that affect your entire body. If you want to zoom out and understand the bigger picture, check out how to fix poor posture and back pain.
EXERCISES FOR UNEVEN HIPS
Single leg exercises are going to be your best friend when it comes to correcting imbalances in the hips. Step ups on a box, single leg lunges, single leg RDLs, and single leg balancing movements will help create more strength and stability in the hip joint.
Here are two of our favorite exercises anyone can do to improve hip mobility and strengthen your glute muscles:
THE CLAMSHELL
- Set up on a firm surface. Lie down on one side with both legs bent at a 90-degree angle. Use your arm or a yoga block/pillow to support your head.
- Gently brace your core and align your spine. You want to avoid slumping the center of your body toward the floor.
- Find a neutral pelvis. This is the ‘sweet spot’ between overly arched and overly rounded.
- Keeping your feet pressed together, raise the top knee. This is like opening a book or a clam shell.
- Hold for 5 seconds in that open position and then lower your knee.
- Repeat for 8-15 repetitions.
- Be sure not to shift or roll back, keep hips stacked.
Repeat on the other side. Aim for 3 rounds.
HIP HIKES
Believe it or not, if you’ve got a chronically laterally tilted pelvis, more pelvic tilts can be the solution!
- Start standing on a firm surface and let one leg hang off. If your foot is small enough, you can use a yoga block but a stair, bench, or curb will be more stable.
- As with the clamshells, find a neutral pelvis - that ‘sweet spot’ between overly arched and overly rounded.
- From there, let that heel sink down toward the ground, thus lowering your hip on one side.
- Then do the opposite: drive the supported foot into the ground and raise the opposite hip up as much as you can. Make sure your knees stay straight as you do this.
You should feel a lot of muscle burn in the glutes and maybe even the QL muscle.
STRETCHES FOR UNEVEN HIPS
Here is some mobility work you can do to reduce tightness in the areas that support your hips and pelvis.
Deep Tissue Psoas Release
The psoas muscle can get tight and often benefits from some deep tissue massage. You can use the QL Claw or (less ideally, a tennis or lacrosse ball) for this to do the release yourself.
If you don’t have any of these tools…
- Find a partner who doesn’t mind getting right in there.
- Lay flat on your back and simply have your partner press down with gradually increasing pressure with three fingers into your psoas. Your job is to try to breathe through it.
- Your partner should then work their way down the psoas muscle along the front of the hip, each time pressing down quite firmly. If tolerable, have them wiggle around on that muscle a bit.
- Remember to keep taking slow, full breaths. You want to try to relax your muscles, after all!
Final tip: If you’re not sure if your partner is in the right place, lift your leg. If your partner feels a bulge under their fingers, you’re likely in the right place.
CHILD’S POSE QL STRETCH
This modified child’s pose stretch will stretch the Quadratus Lumborum (QL) muscle, which is often tight on people with lateral hip tilt.
- Kneel on the floor, sit back toward your heels, and send your upper body to the floor with arms reaching overhead and forehead resting on the ground. This is commonly referred to as “child’s pose”.
- Now take a deep breath and crawl your fingers to one side, feeling a nice stretch in the lower back and side muscles. Hang out here for several slow breaths.
- Walk your fingers to the opposite side and repeat.
Tip: For a deeper stretch, anchor a band to the wall or leg of a couch and allow it to pull you into a deeper stretch.
If stretching alone does not seem to change how that area feels, adding targeted pressure to the QL can help you access deeper tension before returning to movement work.
Build Stronger, More Balanced Hips with MoveU
Fixing uneven hips takes more than doing a few stretches or exercises. You need to understand how your body moves and learn how to control it.
That is exactly what we teach inside MoveU. Start with the Back & Core Program to learn how to control your pelvis and stabilize your spine. Then move into Hips & Glutes to build the strength and control needed to keep your hips level during real movement.
If you are ready to stop compensating and start moving with balance and control, explore the MoveU Membership and begin rebuilding a body that works the way it is supposed to.