Diastasis recti (aka DRA) is a condition that many new moms are faced with. Approximately 50% of moms 12-15 weeks postpartum will be affected by this condition, which is the separation of the right and left rectus abdominus muscles. The image on the left is a normal abdominal wall while the one on the right shows what diastasis recti looks like. The abdomen has fully separated.
Some moms may have a pregnant looking belly months or even years after having their baby. Others may have a cone-like shape to their belly. Another symptom is excess skin or wrinkly skin that just won’t go away.
Some women have other symptoms such as leaking urine every time they sneeze or laugh or jump. Another is low back pain that just won’t quit and lastly, pain or a heaviness feeling in the pelvis area are all signs of pelvic instability and weakness. Although your doctor, OB or midwife checked you at 6 weeks postpartum, they don’t assess the muscles in your pelvic floor. This is why you probably aren’t getting the answers you want from your health care provider. First things first; I always send my clients to a pelvic floor physiotherapist to get checked internally. They will ensure that you can contract and relax your pelvic floor muscles properly. From there, I work with moms on a nutritional, functional movement and exercise level to strengthen their deep core and pelvic floor muscles that work synergistically together to create stability in the back and pelvis, which together help heal you from the mummy tummy look, or the leaking pee and back pain issues. Whether you are 3 months postpartum, 3 years postpartum or 30 years postpartum, most cases of DRA are totally able to heal with intervention. All it takes is your desire to heal and put in the work required to strengthen your body again. Every mom is different. It’s important to remember that this didn’t just happen over night. As you were growing a baby over 9 months, this was a gradual process. Pregnant women, and women who have had a baby aren’t the only ones who get DRA. In fact, many men may also get it. The causes vary and may be caused by obesity, chronic coughing, repetitive flexion movements like crunches, or hormones during menopause. Drop me a line and tell me what you’re going through and what you desire and we can schedule a call together. With one-on-one personal training and an individualized program we will build for you, you’re going to become stronger than ever and look and feel better than ever! If you are a postpartum mom, you need to see a pelvic floor physiotherapist. Check out the videos below to find out why: If you live in Ontario, Canada, please look up a pelvic floor physio by clicking the link below. If you do not, Google one near you and get a consultation. Physiotherapists in Ontario Look, let's get this out of the way — "mummy tummy" is a derogatory term, but any woman who has been pregnant knows exactly what it means. It's that area that lies somewhere between your belly button and the top of your pubic hair that once housed a fetus, and now just houses the leftovers you've eaten off your kids' plates. According to a recent article from NPR entitled "Flattening the Post-Pregnancy Belly In 10 Minutes Of Daily Exercise," the reason for that extra skin and fat could actually be thanks to what's going on underneath, namely the abdominal separation that might have occurred during your pregnancy, when the growth of the baby causes separation between your abdominal muscles and leaves the core unsupported. Called "diastasis recti," it's a term that's becoming increasingly used with regards to postpartum fitness, and describes a gap of approximately 2.7 cm or greater between the two sides of the rectus abdominal muscles, according to an excellent graphic by Fit2B, which runs "diastasis-aware" workouts.  "This isn't something new, it's just something that we're talking about now," Justine Cappel, owner of Toronto's TwentyToes Fitness, a company that is specifically geared towards moms, tells HuffPost Canada. "Women's post-natal health hasn't been as much as a focus in the past as it has become in the past few years. "We lose a little bit of strength and a little bit of support, so our deep core system — which includes pelvic floor muscles, the diaphragm, abdominal muscles and back muscles — becomes weakened and can become less coordinated."
According to NPR, the key to getting rid of what remains after this kind of injury is small, intense movements that are as different from crunches as you can imagine. In one description of the Dia Method by Lia Keller, women lie on their backs, exhale fully and then suck their stomach in towards the spine in tiny increments — not dissimilar to the kegel pulses women are told to do in preparation for childbirth. According to the method, this can help your abdominal muscles realign, and lose inches off your belly. But Cappel isn't convinced that this is the answer for every woman who has a bit more weight around the tummy after giving birth than they'd anticipated. "In my experience, what people call kegels or core breathing is just a part of the picture. The solution is very individual — most of the clients I see end up having too much tone in their pelvic floor, so the solution is to release their pelvic floor muscles. "As a woman, and a mom, I can see how women find it gratifying to close the gap [in their muscles], but the truth is, that's only part of the story." Instead, she recommends visiting a pelvic floor physiotherapist to get an internal exam and find out precisely what's going on in your body.
"Women need to know that they don't have to accept their physical symptoms as their new normal. I'm referring to things like back pain, pelvic pain, urinary incontinence, pain during sex, heaviness in the pelvis or generally feeling disconnected from their bodies. We also need to know the rehabilitating the deep core takes time, patience and strategy." That said, the exercises suggested by the Dia Method and others like them likely won't be harmful — they just might not bring about miraculous results. But for Cappel, that's definitely not the point. "It's more than just about getting your abs back. It's about building a strong foundation, it's about building a deep core and it's about gaining a new appreciation for your body postpartum." |
What is a mom tummy?
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