Stand sideways in front of a mirror. Do your hips push forward, past your shoulders? Does your upper body lean back to compensate? Is there a pronounced curve in your lower back?

That’s sway back posture—sometimes called lazy posture or slouched standing. It’s one of the most common postural dysfunctions, yet many people don’t realize they have it.

Sway back doesn’t just look unbalanced. It puts constant strain on your lower back, tightens your hip flexors, and weakens your core and glutes. Over time, it leads to chronic pain and makes other postural issues worse.

The good news: sway back responds well to targeted exercises and awareness. Let’s break down what’s happening and how to fix it.

What Is Sway Back Posture?

In ideal standing posture, your ear, shoulder, hip, knee, and ankle align vertically. Your weight distributes evenly through your spine, and your muscles work efficiently to hold you upright.

With sway back, this alignment shifts forward at the hips:

The result is an exaggerated S-curve when viewed from the side. Your body looks like it’s “hanging” on your hip joints rather than actively standing.

This posture is sometimes confused with anterior pelvic tilt, but they’re different. Anterior pelvic tilt tips your pelvis forward, creating an excessive lower back arch. Sway back shifts your whole pelvis forward in space.

What Causes Sway Back Posture?

Prolonged standing with poor form. If you stand for long periods—at work, in lines, at social events—you might unconsciously shift your hips forward to “rest” on your hip joints. This takes the work off your muscles but creates the sway back pattern.

Weak core muscles. Your core stabilizes your pelvis and spine. When it’s weak, your body compensates by letting passive structures (joints, ligaments) do the work instead. Sway back is often a sign of core weakness.

Weak glutes. Your gluteal muscles should help maintain proper hip position. When they’re weak or inhibited (from too much sitting), your hips drift forward.

Tight hip flexors. Sitting shortens your hip flexors over time. Tight hip flexors pull your pelvis into anterior tilt and contribute to the forward hip shift.

Habit. Once you start standing this way, it feels normal. Your brain registers sway back as your default position, even though it’s not ideal mechanically.

Hypermobility. Some people have naturally loose joints and tend to “hang” on their passive structures rather than using muscles for support.

Problems Caused by Sway Back

Sway back isn’t just a cosmetic issue. It creates real mechanical problems:

Lower back pain. When your pelvis shifts forward, your lower back has to compensate. The muscles and joints work harder than they should, leading to fatigue and pain.

Hip flexor tightness. The forward hip position keeps your hip flexors in a shortened state, making them chronically tight.

Weak glutes. Sway back perpetuates glute weakness. Your glutes don’t engage properly when your hips are forward, so they get weaker over time—a vicious cycle.

Poor balance. Sway back shifts your center of gravity forward, which can affect balance and stability.

Neck and shoulder issues. To compensate for the forward hips, your upper back rounds and your head moves forward. This contributes to forward head posture and rounded shoulders.

Breathing restrictions. The rounded upper back and collapsed posture can limit how fully your lungs expand.

How to Test for Sway Back Posture

The wall test:

  1. Stand with your back against a wall, heels about 3-4 inches from the base
  2. Let your body relax into its natural standing position
  3. Check which parts touch the wall first

With sway back, your upper back will touch before your buttocks. Your lower back may press flat against the wall instead of having a small natural curve.

The side photo test:

  1. Have someone take a photo of you from the side in your natural standing posture
  2. Draw a vertical line from your ear
  3. Check where it falls relative to your hip and ankle

With sway back, your hip will be noticeably forward of this line. Your upper body will lean back.

The hip position check: Stand naturally and look down at your feet. With sway back, you’ll see your belly button is forward of your toes rather than stacked above them.

Exercises to Fix Sway Back Posture

Fixing sway back requires strengthening the muscles that hold your pelvis in place and stretching the ones that pull it forward.

Glute Bridges

The foundation exercise for sway back. Strengthens your glutes, which need to re-learn how to stabilize your hips.

How to do it:

  1. Lie on your back, knees bent, feet flat on floor hip-width apart
  2. Push through your heels and squeeze your glutes to lift your hips
  3. Create a straight line from shoulders to knees at the top
  4. Hold 2-3 seconds, lower with control
  5. Repeat 12-15 times

Key: Don’t hyperextend your lower back at the top. The movement comes from your glutes, not your back.

Dead Bug

Builds core stability while teaching your pelvis to stay neutral.

How to do it:

  1. Lie on your back, arms straight up toward ceiling
  2. Lift legs so hips and knees are at 90 degrees (tabletop position)
  3. Press your lower back into the floor (flatten the arch)
  4. Slowly lower one arm overhead while extending the opposite leg
  5. Keep your lower back pressed flat throughout
  6. Return and repeat on the other side
  7. Alternate for 10-12 reps per side

Hip Flexor Stretch

Releases the tight hip flexors that contribute to the forward hip position.

How to do it:

  1. Kneel on one knee, other foot forward (lunge position)
  2. Tuck your tailbone under (posterior pelvic tilt)
  3. Shift weight slightly forward until you feel a stretch in the front of your back hip
  4. Keep your torso upright—don’t lean forward
  5. Hold 30-60 seconds, repeat on other side

Key: The tailbone tuck is essential. Without it, you won’t effectively stretch the hip flexors.

Standing Pelvic Tilt

Teaches you to control your pelvis position while standing.

How to do it:

  1. Stand with feet hip-width apart
  2. Place hands on your hips to feel the movement
  3. Tilt your pelvis backward (tuck your tailbone, flatten lower back)
  4. Then tilt forward (arch lower back, stick buttocks out)
  5. Find the neutral middle position
  6. Practice holding neutral for 30-60 seconds

This awareness drill is crucial. You need to feel what neutral pelvis feels like before you can maintain it throughout the day.

Plank

Strengthens the entire core cylinder that stabilizes your spine and pelvis.

How to do it:

  1. Start on forearms and toes, body in a straight line
  2. Don’t let hips sag or pike up
  3. Engage your core—think of pulling your belly button to spine
  4. Hold for 20-60 seconds

Key: Quality over duration. A 20-second plank with perfect form beats a 2-minute plank with sagging hips.

Bird Dog

Builds core stability with movement, teaching your body to maintain neutral spine under load.

How to do it:

  1. Start on hands and knees, hands under shoulders, knees under hips
  2. Find neutral spine (slight natural curves, not arched or rounded)
  3. Extend right arm forward and left leg back simultaneously
  4. Keep hips level—don’t rotate
  5. Hold 2-3 seconds, return to start
  6. Repeat on the other side
  7. Alternate for 10-12 reps per side

Daily Habits to Fix Sway Back

Exercises alone won’t fix sway back if you spend all day standing with hips forward. You need to change the habit.

Check your standing posture

Multiple times daily, check your hip position. Are your hips forward? Bring them back over your ankles. Think of your pelvis as a bowl of water—keep it level, not tipping forward.

Distribute weight evenly

Many people with sway back stand with weight on one hip. Practice standing with equal weight on both feet, weight centered over your arches (not heels or toes).

Engage your core lightly

You don’t need to clench your abs all day, but maintain light core engagement when standing. Think about 20% activation—just enough to support your spine.

Take standing breaks differently

If you stand for long periods, instead of shifting hips forward to rest, try:

Strengthen throughout the day

Add mini exercises to your routine:

How Long to Fix Sway Back?

With consistent daily effort:

Week 1-2: Increased awareness. You catch yourself in sway back more often.

Week 2-4: Exercises feel easier. You start to feel what neutral pelvis position is.

Week 4-8: Standing posture improves. You naturally stand straighter with less effort.

Week 8-12: New default. Good standing posture feels more natural than sway back.

The key is daily consistency. A few minutes of exercises plus ongoing awareness throughout the day produces faster results than occasional long workouts.

When to See a Professional

Most sway back responds well to exercises and habit changes. But see a healthcare provider if you have:

A physiotherapist can assess your specific pattern and provide targeted treatment.

Start Today

Sway back develops gradually from how you stand. It fixes gradually too. The exercises above take 10-15 minutes. The habit changes take awareness.

Start with glute bridges and hip flexor stretches—these address the most common muscle imbalances. Add the standing pelvic tilt to build awareness of your hip position.

Your body wants to be in alignment. Give it the right inputs, and it’ll get there.

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The Posture Workout app includes routines for sway back and other postural issues. Download it free →