I’m certified in pre and post natal fitness and as a mom of two myself, I love helping moms and moms to be with their fitness goals pre and post pregnancy. I’ve seen over the years training clients that there is a lot of misinformation about fitness during these stages in a mom’s life.
Following the birth of my son 8 years ago, I found myself rather bewildered following my six week check up. My OBGYN seemed to barely check me and then deemed me fit to resume exercise. I didn’t feel back to normal? Would it really be okay to jump into the boot camp style classes I was doing prior to pregnancy? I was confused about what types of exercise I could and couldn’t do? How intense should I go? My stomach was still not its normal size nor was my weight, would it ever go back to normal? Should I even expect that? I felt very weak and was ready to feel strong again, but was not sure how to go about it. Two postpartum recoveries, multiple fitness certifications and a ton of research later, I’ve learned a lot and I want to share my knowledge with you. There is a lot to unpack here, so for my first post I want to focus on a common condition that is missed by many doctors at the 6 week check up.
Diastasis recti (DR) is the partial or complete separation of the rectus abdominis or abdominal muscles. One study found that up to 60 percent of women experience some severity of DR pre or post natal. Sometimes if repairs on its own over time, but often women have to be extremely careful to avoid certain exercises and have to be very diligent with recovery exercises to slowly bring those muscles back together.
So how do you know if you have diastasis recti?
You can easily perform a self-test. You’ll want to lie on your back with your knees bent and feet on the floor. While lifting your head off the floor, place two fingers on the midline of your abdominal wall. Gently palpate this section starting at the naval, up to the the bottom part of the sternum and then from the navel to the pubis. You are feeling for a gap and for the depth of the gap. If you feel a separation that is more than 2 fingers wide, you likely have DR. The wider and deeper the gap the more severe the case is.
Visually, you may notice a stomach bulge or pooch. You may also notice a coning of the abdominal wall when you strain the muscle. Physically you may be experiencing back pain, pelvic floor issues such as incontinence, as well as difficulty doing certain activity due to lack of core control and strength.
I have diastasis recti, what do I do now?
Depending how severe your case is you may want to consider working with a physical therapist or a pre and post natal certified personal trainer. You’ll want to be extremely careful with what core exercises you do as certain movements could cause more problems and definitely won’t help with the repair process.
You want to avoid any movements or exercises that create that coning shape. This means no crunches or planks for now. Improperly getting up off the floor or even picking baby up out of the crib can create unwanted stress that your ab wall is not ready for. Look out for that coning shape within your daily activities, not just during exercise.
3 Starter Exercises to Repair Diastasis Recti
360 Degree Breathing with Pelvic Floor Activation.
360 breathing and pelvic floor activations are great exercises for repairing DR. Start by doing each separately until you gave gotten the hang of it. Then try combining the two together. The combination is the number one exercise I use with clients for repairing DR. This breathing technique should be performed during any core exercise as well as when performing other exercises like squats. This will help protect the core throughout the movement as well as continue to strengthen those muscles.
Heel Slides
Heal Taps
As you progress you can start adding in core exercises like deadbugs and bird dogs as long as there is no coning during these movements. Once your gap is closed you can add in planks and other core moves.
If you have DR, there is a lot you need to avoid, but there is also still a lot you can do. Most forms of cardio are okay as long as they don’t cause pain. Lower body movements like squats, deadlift, lunges are encouraged when done with proper form. For now, you don’t want to lift super heavy, as a strong core is needed to properly brace for heavy listing and could cause unwanted strain to the area.
It is always good to check with your doctor or a specialist if you think you may have DR and definitely check with your doctor when you are post natal to make sure you are ready for exercise.
