Diastasis Recti: Fighting Back Against the Mommy Pooch!!

What is Diastasis Recti???

Ah, Motherhood. It's hands down the greatest thing to ever happen to a woman. We give up our minds, souls, (and mostly) our bodies for our children! But what about the aftermath? What about when the baby is born and all hell has been ravished upon our insides??? Almost everything goes back into place within about 6-12 months of delivery. But I'm going to discuss something that may be a permanent change after childbirth: diastasis recti. Some of you may or may not have heard of this, but all women experience it during pregnancy. Diastasis recti (also known as abdominal separation) is commonly defined as a gap between the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscles, or the "6-pack" ab muscles. These are the most external of the abdominal muscles. For a woman to carry a child, these muscles must separate in order to accommodate for the growing baby. After childbirth, these muscles are supposed to grow back together. And for me, they did so after my first 2 pregnancies. Not so much after my third! Some of the signs of diastasis recti (or DR) are abdominal weakness (I could barely do any traditional ab exercises, even 9 months after childbirth), the belly pouching out (I thought this was just excess belly fat) and poor posture due to having a weak core (I definitely was experiencing this also). There are several videos and demonstrations online that offer exercises that you can do in order to perform a self-check for DR. (I provided a link to one such instructional video at the bottom of this blog.)

After doing some research, and using my knowledge and background in Kinesiology (AKA exercise science), I found several good, and some not so good, programs claiming to “cure” DR. Now I will offer this disclaimer: if your abdominal separation is more than 2-3 fingers wide, you may only be able to fix it through surgery. My DR was only about 1 finger wide; therefore I decided that I would try to fix it myself using some of the exercises and techniques that I found online.

So if I have DR, what do I do next???

First off, here’s a short biology lesson: The transverse abdominal (or TA) muscles are the most internal abdominal muscles. These muscles are like a corset for your insides. By strengthening these muscles, you are bringing the external abdominals (or EA) closer together. DO NOT try to exercise the external abdominals! This will only put stress on the muscles and can cause them to separate even more. Look for exercises specifically for the transverse abdominals. I found SEVERAL of these on YouTube and Google. Some of my favorites are on the YouTube channel “The balanced life with Robin Long.” She has a specific playlist of Pilates for new moms, including one where she discusses how to check for DR and some exercises to help it. She also has as a few videos that are specifically for the TA muscles.



This is what it looks like when I do the DR test.
You can see the abdominals flexing to the right
of my hand, but where my fingers are, there is an
 indentation in between the 2 rows of external abs.

This is what it looks like when I try to do any kind
of traditional ab exercise. This extended area down the
middle of my belly is the "bulging" that I am referring to.
This is what you want to NOT happen when performing
any of DR exercises that I have mentioned.

 

While doing these exercises, make sure that your stomach is staying flat (not bulging up, such as in the picture above) and you are cinching in your waist. I often will keep my hands on my belly or around my waist in order to make sure that the EA muscles don’t get engaged. Exercising the TA muscles is a strange feeling versus traditional ab movements! You can feel the tightness in your belly, but your abs still feel soft to the touch. A good gauge to see if you’re doing it right is this: Exhale all of the air in your lungs. Now push even harder with the diaphragm and get out all of the ambient air until you can’t exhale anymore and you feel like you might pass out! Do you feel that tightness in your midsection? That’s your transverse muscles! Now hold that tension, but resume breathing. Not very easy, is it???  

These exercises should be done daily. They look easy, but for a person with true DR, they are not. And I’ll admit I feel pretty humbled by doing these basic movements and struggling! But this also tells me that my abs aren’t healed yet and that I still need to take it really easy at the gym.

These 6 exercises kept popping up throughout all of my research, (on different searches, on various websites, etc).
They can easily be performed everyday! I do the seated ones in the car while I'm driving. I do the lying one when I'm in
the floor playing with my baby and I do the ones with the exercise balls when I'm at the gym after my normal workouts! 

 

Another good resource that I found was Wendy Powell, who started the MuTu System (short for Mummy Tummy.) She is a postpartum/ pregnancy exercise and fitness specialist.  You can go to her web site (MuTusystem.com) and she offers several programs that you can pay for, as well as tons of information about DR. Because my abdominal separation was only 1 finger width, I chose not to spend money on any programs. But if my separation had been wider, this would have been my next step. Of all the programs that I found that cost money, this seemed to me to be the most legitimate and have the most sensible approach.

Do’s and Don’ts

·         Don’t do traditional ab exercises, such as sit ups, crunches, planks, etc.

·         Don’t do yoga moves such as back bends, core work or any deep twisting movements

·         Do a self-check for DR. If your abdominal gap is 3 fingers width or more, consult a Doctor before doing any of these exercises.

·         Do keep your receipts of any money that you spend fixing your body and give them to your children when they turn 18…. so that they can pay you back :)

Resources:
https://mutusystem.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQjyBJAhTUo&list=PL866E47A8153D554C
^^Instructional videos on diastasis recti and working the transverse abdominals ^^

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXzyynx7n1s&index=3&list=PL866E47A8153D554C
^^How to perform a self-check for DR as done by YouTuber and Pilates pro Robin Long^^