diastasis recti
(aka abdominal separation)
WHAT IS IT? HOW DO YOU SPOT IT? WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT?
During pregnancy the right and left halves of the rectus abdominis muscles separate to accommodate your growing baby. Postpartum this gap can take anywhere from 6 weeks to 9 months to reduce. Everyone’s recovery is going to be different and a third of all new mums will have some level of diastasis recti. After 6 weeks and when commencing exercise we need to check this gap and be ever mindful of how we work our abdominal muscles.
In VERY rare cases a hernia or prolapse can occur – most likely an umbilical hernia causing a bulge / protrusion or soft swelling around the belly button. This can be caused by increased abdominal pressure as a result of day to day things like lifting, coughing, constipation, bad posture or possibly multiple pregnancies. But it can also be caused by exercising incorrectly and working too powerfully into the abdominal muscles before we have closed the gap. For example doing full planks, full crunches, sit ups, roll ups, excessive and fast twist movements or strong back bends – these are an absolute NO NO until you have full abdominal recovery.
How do you know if you have Diastasis Recti?
It’s possible to check your own abdominal gap – I show you how in the below video. From 6 to 8 weeks it is normal to have a gap of about 20mm which is approximately 2 fingers. Anything more than that after 8 weeks is considered problematic and you should seek further medical advice.
Exercises for Diastasis Recti
At Busylizzy, we have a wide range of postnatal classes suitable for all new mums on their postnatal recovery journey, Classes are available face to face and online, real time via Zoom with expert Q&A.
