Think of the pelvis as a bucket

Submitted by louiseds on August 24, 2009 - 12:00am
Body: 

There has been some mention recently on the Forums of the idea of thinking about the pelvis as a bucket. I do not understand exactly how this is helpful for us, because the pelvis does not have a floor at the bottom and a wider opening at the top. It has bones at the bottom, a sloping pelvic wall (usually called a floor, but floors are horizontal.)at the back, a sacrum at the top and the front is open. The only bucket it resembles when a woman is standing is a narrow front-end loader bucket. Stand up and feel your own pelvis and see if you can feel it acting in the shape of a bucket? Of course you can't, because as soon as you raise the pubic bones to form the top of the bucket, your knees buckle under you, and your upper back slouches dramatically, and thrusts your neck forward. You cannot stand up any more. See Saving the Whole Woman, 2nd ed, p84.

However, I have illustrated, and had accepted by Wholewoman Forums in the past, a different analogy of the pelvis as a bucket. I will describe it for you.

Go grab a common laundry bucket and a tall, filled and sealed bottle, eg 1.5 litre softdrink bottle, or bottle of wine. Now hold the bucket in one hand by the handle. It will balance upright. Put the bottle, top down in the bucket. It will not stand up by itself, but the bottom (now at the top) of the bottle will lean on one side of the bucket and tip the bucket onto quite an angle. This is similar to the effect of allowing our organs to rest against the front abdominal wall. The weight of these organs tips the pelvis forwards and reinforces the horizontal position of the bottom of the sacrum, and reinforces the lumbar curve. This is also what happens in pregnancy, when the enlarging uterus grows up and out the front. Yes, the female body is built for this type of loading, and a fit, pregnant woman's body usually handles this enlarged uterus just fine!! Of course the non-pregnant uterus is not nearly as weighty as the pregnant uterus, so it doesn't exert nearly as much forward force on the lower abdominal wall. It is just a neat little example of the wonder of natural design.

Cheers

Louise