Where Are Your Sit Bones? How to Find and Sit on Them

Your sit bones are the two rounded points at the very bottom of your pelvis, one on each side. They sit under the muscle of the buttocks. The anatomical name is the ischial tuberosities. The ischium is the lower back part of each half of the pelvis, and a tuberosity is a bony bump. So the name means the bumps at the bottom of the pelvis, nothing more. They sit a little below and behind your hip joints, and the hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh attach to them.

When you sit upright on a firm seat, a large share of your weight passes through these two points into the chair. Slump back, and the weight rolls behind them toward the tailbone. Lean forward, and it moves onto the backs of the thighs. Most of us pass through all three positions in a day without noticing. This page is about noticing, so that you have a choice.

Where your sit bones are, in your own body

Reading the anatomy is one thing. Feeling it is another. Here is a short exploration you can do right now. It takes about two minutes.

Sit on a firm chair, a wooden kitchen chair or a stool rather than a soft sofa. Slide your hands under your buttocks, palms facing up, so the heel of each hand rests roughly under the middle of each buttock. Let your weight come down onto your hands.

Now rock gently from side to side. Keep it very small. You will feel a hard, rounded knob press into one palm, then lift away as the other side takes the weight. Those two knobs are the sit bones. Go slowly enough to catch the moment the weight crosses from one to the other.

Then rock forward and back. Tip the pelvis so the knobs roll toward your fingers and your lower back arches a little. Then tip the other way, so the knobs roll toward your wrists and your back rounds. Somewhere in the middle, your weight is right on top of them.

As you rock, let your attention travel upward. What does your spine do when the pelvis tips forward? What does your head do? Many people find the chin lifts a little as the pelvis rolls forward, and drops as it rolls back. The head follows the pelvis, like the two ends of one rope.

Slide your hands out and sit on the chair again. Rock a few more times without them. Can you still feel the two points? For many people they are much clearer now than they were five minutes ago, even though nothing about the chair has changed.

What changes when you sit on your sit bones

With the weight on the sit bones, the pelvis can rest fairly level. The spine rises out of it with its natural curves, and the head balances on top with little effort from the neck. Many people describe feeling lighter or taller, with less work in the back.

Roll back behind the sit bones and the picture shifts. The pelvis tips, the lower back rounds, the chest sinks and the head drifts forward. Nothing here is a problem in itself. It is a position many of us use for resting, and the body is well able to do it. Difficulty arrives only when one position becomes the only one we use for hours.

Roll forward of the sit bones and the lower back arches, the back muscles do more holding, and the thighs take weight. Again, a useful position for reaching toward a desk. Also one that gets tiring over an afternoon.

The point is to know where you are. Once the two bones are clear in your awareness, each position becomes a place you can visit and leave. It stops being a place you simply end up in.

Upright is one option among many

A lot of advice treats sitting on the sit bones as a target to hold. That misses something. The body is built to move. A pelvis that can rock in the chair tends to feel easier on the back than one that is held still.

Across the world, 31% of adults do not reach the recommended level of physical activity (WHO, 2024). Long stretches of sitting are part of that picture. Small movements in a chair will never replace a walk. They do keep the pelvis and spine awake between walks, and they make the moment of standing up feel easier.

So treat the sit bones as a landmark rather than a rule. Find them, rest on them for a while, then let yourself roll back or lean forward when you need to. Return when you remember. Our Feldypedia article on lower back pain from sitting explains why this kind of variety matters so much for the lower back.

If the two points feel sore rather than simply hard, that is a different story. Our page on why your butt bone hurts when you sit looks at the common causes. Pain on one sit bone that eases as soon as you stand can also point to ischial bursitis. That is an irritation of the small cushion over the bone.

Why a Feldenkrais® lesson often starts at the pelvis

In the Feldenkrais Method, the pelvis is where we often begin. It sits at the centre of the body and carries the weight of everything above it, so whatever it does echoes up the spine to the head. A pelvis that can rock freely in sitting gives the spine room to move. A pelvis that is held gives the neck and shoulders extra work.

Lessons are slow, and they ask you to notice rather than to achieve. Rocking on the sit bones with your hands underneath, as you did above, is a small taste of a lesson. A full lesson explores the same kind of thing for longer. You compare one side with the other. You try the movement with your eyes closed. You rest, and you feel what has changed.

Feldy is an online program of these lessons, led by voice, that you can do at home. A free 7 day trial is the easiest way to start. If you want to try one now, our somatic exercises for beginners page has a short first lesson you can do sitting in a chair. The body awareness page explains what the program covers and who it suits.

Alongside clinical care and other methods

Finding your sit bones is movement education, and it sits alongside any clinical care you receive. If a doctor or physiotherapist is helping you with back, hip or pelvic pain, this kind of noticing can run next to that work. It does not replace it, and it is not a treatment.

Other movement methods also use the sit bones, and each does so in its own way. Yoga and Pilates teachers often cue students to feel the sit bones at the start of a seated pose or exercise. The bones act as an anchor for the shape that follows. That gives the body a clear base to work from. The Alexander Technique pays close attention to how the head rests on the spine in sitting, and uses a teacher's hands to guide that. Strength training builds the capacity of the muscles around the pelvis. Feldenkrais works mostly through slow, varied movement and comparison, so the nervous system learns a wider range of options. These are different routes. Many people find that more than one suits them.

Common Questions about sit bones (FAQ)

Is it safe to explore my sit bones this way?

For most people, yes. The movements are small and slow, and you stay on a chair the whole time. If you have a recent pelvic, hip or tailbone injury, or pain that gets sharper as you rock, stop. Talk with your doctor or physiotherapist about what is comfortable for you. During pregnancy, keep the rocking very small and stop if anything feels uncomfortable.

How often should I check in with my sit bones?

A few times a day is plenty. Each check takes under a minute: pause, rock gently side to side, feel the two points, then carry on with what you were doing. Many people tie it to a cue, such as sitting down to eat or opening a laptop. Short and often works better than one long session.

How long until sitting on my sit bones feels natural?

Most people feel the two points clearly on the first try. Noticing them without putting your hands underneath often takes a week or two of short check ins. Having your weight settle there on its own, without thinking about it, varies from person to person and can take several weeks. The aim is a wider range of choices, so there is no finish line.

How is this different from the sit bone cue in yoga or Pilates?

In yoga and Pilates, feeling the sit bones usually anchors a pose or an exercise that you then hold or work from. The bones give the shape a steady base. In a Feldenkrais lesson, you rock on and off the sit bones on purpose and notice what the spine and head do each time. One approach builds a position, the other builds the ability to move between positions. Both have value, and they work through different mechanisms.

What is the best chair or cushion for sitting on your sit bones?

A firm, flat seat at a height where your feet rest on the floor and your knees sit a little lower than your hips. Firmness matters most, because a soft seat swallows the sit bones and makes them hard to feel. If you want a cushion, choose one that is thin and firm. A cushion that is slightly higher at the back than the front can also help the pelvis rest level. A chair that lets you shift and rock is more useful than one that holds you in a single shape.

What should I avoid when learning to sit on my sit bones?

Avoid forcing yourself to stay on them. Holding any single position for a long time, even this one, asks the back muscles to work without a break. Avoid pulling your shoulders back or lifting your chest to feel taller, since the change comes from the pelvis. Avoid rocking hard or fast, and avoid doing the exploration on a soft sofa, where the bones disappear into the cushion. Stop if anything hurts.

When should I see a professional about my sit bones?

See a doctor or physiotherapist if one or both sit bones are painful rather than simply hard to the touch. The same applies if the pain followed a fall or a sudden increase in running or cycling. Pain that wakes you at night, or numbness, tingling or weakness in a leg, also needs a look. So does swelling, warmth or redness over the bone. If sitting is comfortable and you simply cannot feel the two points yet, that is common, and a little practice usually changes it.