It's pretty hard to break apical dominance. And even if you can get it to sprout down low, the upper canopy will very quickly shade it out, causing lower sprouts to stall and die.
Some cultivars seem to be better at this than others. For example, in my experience, keitt sometimes likes to sprout from within the inner canopy.
Your best bet is to prune. But even if you prune, the tree will have a mind of its own and can close up the canopy around your prune, causing your new sprouts to die. So, it's important to continue managing it (by pruning the surrounding canopy).