Lordosis and hyperlordosis: your lower back's curve, what's normal and what exercise can change

A curve everyone has

Lordosis is the natural inward curve of your lower back. Everyone has one; hyperlordosis means a bigger curve than usual, and no agreed cut-off defines 'too much'.

Sources 1, 2

Normal varies widely

On standing X-rays, the curve averaged about 57 to 60 degrees in healthy adults, and most fall between about 40 and 80. The shape of your pelvis sets much of it.

Sources 2, 3, 4

A deep curve isn't a proven cause of back pain

On skin measures, people with and without back pain have the same curve, and on X-rays people with back pain have slightly smaller curves, not bigger ones.

Sources 5, 6, 7

You change it all day

Tipping your pelvis changes the curve by about 9 to 11 degrees while you hold it, and sitting roughly halves it.

Sources 8, 9

Exercise changes it a little

Small trials report a few degrees, mostly measured on the skin and with no follow-up, and a Pilates trial found no change. Exercise is worth doing for strength and for back pain, whatever your curve.

Sources 10, 11, 12, 13

The curve

Seen from the side, your lower back curves inward between your ribs and your pelvis; your neck's smaller inward curve is covered in the military neck guide. On a standing X-ray, the curve is measured as the angle from the first lumbar vertebra to the sacrum (L1 to S1). Skin measures use a flexible ruler, an inclinometer or motion sensors, and give different numbers.

Sources 1, 5

Hyperlordosis

Hyperlordosis means a bigger curve than usual, but there's no agreed cut-off. One trial used 'more than 40 degrees' on a flexible ruler to define it, a value at the low end of normal on X-rays, so the label depends on the tool.

Sources 1, 10, 2

Lordosis, pelvic tilt and swayback

Tipping the pelvis forward (anterior pelvic tilt) deepens the curve while you hold it. Physiotherapists describe a lordotic posture, with a deep curve and the pelvis tipped forward, and a different sway-back posture, with the hips pushed forward and the upper body leaning back. Each has its own guide.

Sources 8, 14

What shapes it

Mostly the shape of your pelvis: a fixed angle called pelvic incidence goes with a deeper curve. Sex, age, body weight, ethnicity and sport play a part too, and the normal lower back comes in several shapes.

Sources 2, 3, 4, 1

Muscles explain little

Abdominal strength and hip extension range were barely related to the standing curve in 31 and 25 adults (correlations of 0.06 and minus 0.09, where 1 would be a perfect match), and muscle lengths only weakly in 103 teenage girls (about 0.2). In 90 adults, muscle length explained less than half of the variation, and the authors questioned using abdominal strengthening or stretches to correct standing posture.

Sources 15, 16, 17, 18

On X-raysStrong evidence

On standing X-rays, the lower-back curve averaged 60 degrees, give or take 10, in 300 adults without back pain, and 57 degrees, give or take 11, in 468 healthy volunteers. Most healthy adults fall between about 40 and 80 degrees.

Sources 2, 3

On skin measuresStrong evidence

With flexible rulers, inclinometers and motion sensors, group averages ranged from 19 to 56 degrees depending on the tool, with the same spread in people with and without back pain.

Source 5

Women, men and ageMixed evidence

Women have more curve than men. With age, a meta-analysis of 35,913 volunteers found the curve smaller in older groups, while a study of 468 healthy volunteers aged 18 to 80, in 5 countries, found no change.

Sources 19, 5, 3

Your pelvis sets much of itStrong evidence

The curve rises and falls with pelvic incidence, a fixed angle of the pelvis (a correlation of 0.53 in 468 volunteers), and the lower backs of 160 healthy adults fell into four normal shapes.

Sources 2, 3, 4

Sitting halves itStrong evidence

In 50 healthy adults, sitting flattened the curve by 16.6 degrees, about half. In 109 people with back pain, it averaged 49 degrees standing and 34 sitting.

Sources 9, 20

No agreed cut-offStrong evidence

Age, sex, body weight, ethnicity and sport all affect the curve, and a review of more than 120 studies concluded that 'the optimal lordotic range remains unknown'.

Source 1

Before birth and in early childhoodEmerging evidence

The lower-back curve is already there before birth: on MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), measured lying down, it averaged about 20 degrees in 63 fetuses and 22 degrees in 100 children. The authors concluded that posture and walking shape the curve at the base of the spine.

Source 21

School age and teenagersEmerging evidence

On standing X-rays, children and teenagers average about 40 to 46 degrees, less than adults, and the curve deepens with growth, mostly at the lowest two levels. How fast children grow affects it differently in girls and boys.

Sources 22, 23, 24, 25

Toddlers

Parents often notice a deep-looking curve and a round tummy in toddlers. We found no study measuring toddlers standing, so judge by change and symptoms rather than looks (our editorial advice).

Teenagers vary widelyMixed evidence

When researchers grouped 639 boys aged about 12 by how they stood, 42% stood in a neutral way, 31% in sway-back and 27% leaning forward, and back and neck pain were more common in the sway-back group. In 1,196 young teenagers, whole-body posture was linked with back and neck pain but the lower-back and pelvic angles weren't, and in 766 teenagers, those who didn't stand in a neutral way had more back pain in some analyses.

Sources 26, 27, 28

Young athletesEmerging evidence

A deeper curve is linked with spondylolysis, a stress fracture at the back of a vertebra, which usually starts after age 8 and which gymnastics and heavy weightlifting can aggravate. Back pain affects 25% to 50% of competitive gymnasts, and more of those who train more.

Sources 1, 29, 30

No single patternStrong evidence

A 2025 review of 87 studies found no consistent pattern: in one study, 56% of women's curves flattened between the first and second trimesters while 44% deepened by the third, and other studies found average changes in opposite directions. Back pain is common in pregnancy, but an earlier review of 50 papers found it wasn't linked to these changes in the spine.

Sources 31, 32

Back care in pregnancy

The NHS suggests bending your knees and keeping your back straight when you lift, avoiding heavy lifting, wearing flat shoes, sitting with your back supported, and a back care class. Its exercise: on all fours, pull in your stomach muscles and round your back up towards the ceiling, hold for a few seconds, then return to a flat back without hollowing it, 10 times. Pregnancy yoga and aquanatal classes can help too.

Source 33

Curve size and back painMixed evidence

Measured on the skin, the curve was the same in people with and without back pain (8 studies). On X-rays, people with back pain had slightly smaller curves (13 studies, 1,723 people), especially those with disc problems, though the studies varied a lot. In cohort studies, a smaller curve weakly predicted new back pain.

Sources 5, 6, 34

Spinal curves and healthStrong evidence

A review of 54 studies, mostly of low quality, found no strong evidence linking the spine's front-to-back curves with spinal pain or other health outcomes, and an umbrella review of 41 reviews found no agreement that posture causes low back pain.

Sources 7, 35

Exercise and the curveMixed evidence

In 75 inactive men with deep curves, 6 weeks of core stability exercise twice a week reduced the curve by about 2 degrees on a flexible ruler. In 30 women, 8 weeks of corrective exercise took it from about 50 to 44 degrees, against a slight rise from 50 to 52 in women who didn't train. A 12-week programme moved the lower backs of 12 women with deep or flat curves towards the middle of the range, and a review of 10 studies in teenagers reported smaller curve angles after exercise.

A meta-analysis of 10 trials found a moderate effect, but 6 of the trials were at high risk of bias, and an earlier meta-analysis it cites found almost no effect. None of these trials followed people up after training stopped, and most measured on the skin.

Sources 10, 11, 36, 37, 12

PilatesMixed evidence

Twelve weeks of mat Pilates in 50 active middle-aged adults didn't change posture against controls. A review of 9 studies with 643 people, of mixed quality, reported better spinal curves and posture.

Sources 13, 38

StretchingStrong evidence

In 23 studies, stretching didn't change spinal or pelvic posture, and strengthening didn't significantly change the lower back and pelvis either. Hip flexor stretches can feel good after sitting; they aren't a way to flatten the curve.

Sources 39, 18

Exercise helps back pain whatever your curveStrong evidence

NICE (the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence) recommends considering group exercise of any type for low back pain. The NHS advises staying active, with exercises and stretches and activities such as walking, swimming, yoga and Pilates. None of this depends on changing your curve.

Sources 40, 41

If you have no pain

Nothing is needed. A deep-looking curve is a common, normal shape.

Sources 2, 5

A starting programme

Two or three sessions a week of pelvic control, trunk and hip strength work, which is our editorial starting point, modelled on the trials: core work twice a week for 6 weeks, or three sessions a week for 8 weeks. The anterior pelvic tilt routine below puts it together.

Sources 10, 11

Pelvic control

Standing pelvic tilts at the move page's dose: 5 to 10 slow tilts, up to 3 times a day. Cat-cow at the move page's dose, 8 waves, slower than feels natural. Pelvic tilts into a bridge, 8 to 10 slow reps (our editorial starting point).

Trunk and hips

Dead bugs and bird dogs, 2 to 3 sets of 6 to 8 each side; glute bridges, 2 to 3 sets of 10 to 12 with a 2-second squeeze; knee planks, 3 holds of 20 to 30 seconds, then forearm planks; hip hinges, 2 sets of 8 to 10 slow reps (our editorial starting points).

For comfort

The half-kneeling hip flexor stretch, 2 to 3 holds of 30 to 45 seconds each side with the tailbone tucked (our editorial starting point), and child's pose at the move page's dose, 1 to 3 minutes. They feel good; they don't change the curve.

Braces and belts

We found no trial showing that a brace or posture corrector changes the lower-back curve in adults, and NICE says not to offer belts or corsets for low back pain.

Source 40

In pregnancy

Use the NHS all-fours exercise above, and see the pregnancy exercise guide for a full plan. In later pregnancy, keep time flat on your back short, as the pregnancy workouts below do, and take your knees wide in child's pose, as its move page advises.

Source 33

Young athletes

If spondylolysis is suspected, a doctor and physiotherapist guide the return to sport. Most people do well without surgery: easing off the activities that hurt, core strengthening and sometimes a brace, with therapists limiting repeated arching and crunches during recovery.

Sources 29, 42

Not warning signs

A deep-looking curve without pain, a curve that flattens when you sit or bend forward, or one that changes in pregnancy isn't a warning sign.

Sources 5, 9, 31

Call 999 or go to A&E

Posture exercises are not where to start if you have back pain with any of these. In the US, call 911.

• Pain, tingling, weakness or numbness in both legs.
• Loss of feeling around your genitals or anus.
• Changes in your bladder or bowels, such as difficulty peeing, or peeing or pooing yourself.
• Changes in how your penis or vagina feels during sex, not being able to get or keep an erection, or not being able to orgasm.
• Chest pain.
• Back pain that started after a serious accident, such as a car crash.

Source 41

Get an urgent GP appointment or call 111

If you have back pain and:

• You feel hot, cold, shivery or generally unwell.
• The pain is severe, started suddenly or is getting worse quickly.

Source 41

See a GP

If back pain:

• Doesn't improve after a few weeks of looking after it at home, stops you doing day-to-day activities, or worries you.
• Comes with weight loss you can't explain, a lump or swelling in your back, or a change in the shape of your back.
• Doesn't improve with rest, is worse at night, or is worse when you sneeze, cough or poo.
• Is coming from the top of your back (between your shoulders), rather than your lower back.

Source 41

A young athlete with back pain

Low back pain, stiffness or tight hamstrings that keep going in a young athlete, especially in gymnastics or weightlifting and when arching, can be spondylolysis, a stress fracture. See a GP: early stress injuries may not show on an X-ray.

Source 29

In pregnancy

Contact your GP or midwife urgently for back pain in the second or third trimester, which can be a sign of early labour, or with a fever, bleeding from the vagina, pain when you pee, or pain under your ribs on one or both sides. Call 999 if you lose feeling in one or both legs, your bottom or your genitals.

Source 33

Children and teenagers

The back pain signs above apply at any age. See a GP for a child's back pain that doesn't settle; a spine that curves to the side, one shoulder or hip higher than the other, or a rib hump when they bend forward; or a child who is taking longer than expected to walk, falls easily or finds walking difficult, which the NHS lists among the signs of muscular dystrophy, a rare cause of muscle weakness. Most children with a deep-looking curve are well.

Sources 41, 43, 44, 45

"A big curve in your lower back causes back pain."Strong evidence

Curves were the same with and without back pain on skin measures, people with back pain had smaller curves on X-rays, and a smaller curve, not a bigger one, weakly predicted new back pain.

Sources 5, 6, 34, 7

"Tight hip flexors and weak abs cause a deep curve."Strong evidence

In the studies that measured them, abdominal strength, muscle lengths and hip range explained little of the curve, and stretching doesn't change posture.

Sources 15, 16, 17, 18, 39

"There's a correct lordosis angle."Strong evidence

Healthy curves span about 40 to 80 degrees on X-rays and 19 to 56 degrees on skin measures, and 'the optimal lordotic range remains unknown'.

Sources 2, 5, 1

"Posture exercises reshape your spine."Mixed evidence

Trials report a few degrees on skin measures, from small studies mostly at high risk of bias and with no follow-up, and Pilates didn't change posture in a randomised trial. Exercise reliably builds strength and eases back pain.

Sources 10, 11, 12, 13

"Hyperlordosis comes from slouching."Strong evidence

Sitting does the opposite while you sit: it flattens the lower back by about half.

Sources 9, 20

"Pregnancy always deepens the curve."Strong evidence

Studies found increases, decreases and no change, and back pain didn't track the curve.

Sources 31, 32

"Lordosis causes digestive problems."Emerging evidence

We found no study linking the lower back's curve with digestion. A review of 54 studies found a few links between the spine's curves and health problems, judged unlikely to be causal.

Source 7