Beating Diastatis Recti
DISCLAIMER: I am not a doctor and I do not pretend to be one on the internet. Before you begin a training program please consult with your doctor.
Our Bodies are incredible machines.
They spend every moment working hard for you, doing a multitude of tasks each day.
They are made to make things easier without you even knowing. Our heart pumps, our food digests, and our muscles contract without much thought going into it.
One thing that is NOT easy, is making a baby.
Now, your body is going to favor ensuring that your baby not only survives, but thrives. This is sometimes even to your own detriment.
One stress among many others is physically making space for the baby to reside. As the baby continues to grow, somethings gotta give so the lining (linea abla) of the muscles in your abdomen weakens and separates. This is called Diastasis Recti (DR).
DR is defined as a condition in which the large abdominal muscles separate. To be diagnosed clinically, a common measurement is a separation of two finger widths (kind of a lot).
After birth, the lining will naturally become stronger.
But, often times in order to fully recover surgery is required.
This can be very disheartening and frustrating, but you can absolutely make a full recovery and return to your normal routine and more so long as you follow a few simple guidelines.
First, you need to understand Intra-Abdominal Pressure.
This is the pressure that stabilizes your torso by manipulating a huge muscle called your diaphragm. Try taking a deep breath in through your belly, making sure your shoulders and chest don’t rise, it’s almost as if you’re pressing your belly against an imaginary belt you’re wearing. This pressure helps keep everything in it’s rightful place and although you want to be mindful not to overdo this starting out, over time this will be the key to building strength through your trunk.
Second, keep in mind how gravity is effecting you.
Laying on your back (called Supine) and performing traditional “ab” exercises will reinforce the separation (what we don’t want). On the other end, exercises face down (called Prone) like a plank will force your body to overcome gravity. Well, gravity is kind of heavy and often times this is even too much of a stimulus to start with.
Everything Else
So what you’re left with is basically just standing up normally! The good news about this is that you can basically do any exercise that does not cause pain or discomfort, and it’s probably even better to start with exercises that don’t directly involve your abs like squats, lunges, pulls, and pushes (standing). Keep in mind that any exercise you do you will always (hopefully) be indirectly using your core muscles.
As your body as whole regains it’s strength, your core (abs) will naturally keep up and over time you’ll be more than ready to incorporate more isolated core exercises.
Lastly, keep in mind that muscle adapts significantly faster than soft tissue. Give yourself a six month timeline and although you’ll regain strength quickly, be patient and give your tissue time to adapt as well. Time is your friend and if you start experiencing aches and pains you may be doing too much, too fast.
Start Exercising again
Keep in mind that time is the goal. It benefits you way more to perform an exercise for 20-30 seconds as opposed to an arbitrary number of reps. To progress, add time spent performing these regardless of reps completed.
Each category will begin with the simplest of exercises and progress to harder variations. Set of a goal of working out every other day (or so) for around 20 minutes, It doesn’t take more than that. Feel free to do more or less based on your goals and fitness level.
Perform each exercise at least 3 times for 20-40s and up to two weeks before progressing to the next. If you run into a movement that’s too difficult, simply take a step back and add more time.
Supine
Anterior/Posterior Pelvic Tilt: Develop the skill to know what position your pelvis is in. Pressing your lower back into the ground and tucking your hips will the most stable position for your core as well as your spine.
Single Leg March: Lifting one leg, passively focusing on slowly lowering it back to the ground. Don’t forget to keep pressure with your lower back on the ground.
Glute Bridges: Your Glutes are the strongest muscle in your body. Developing them will stabilize your hips and this will help strengthen your core! Plus make your butt bigger.
Glute Bridge Variations: Adduction (Squeezing a block between your knees) and Abduction (pressing your knees against a band).
Glute Bridge March: A more difficult variation where you’ll transfer weight from one leg to the other.
Dead Bug: The first dedicated “core” exercise that you should introduce while on your back.
Bent Hollow Hold: The most common and challenging core exercise while supine.
Prone
Cat/Camel: A good way to warm-up and gauge how your tissue is feeling, when reaching your belly down, simply stop before any pain or discomfort occurs.
Quadruped Progression Starting with each arm individually, progressing to one leg individually.
Bird Dog: The most effective prone exercise to introduce.
Not Supine or Prone
Sitting Leg Raises: A difficult but simple exercise to do while not on your back.
Side Plank: A great way to challenge your core without your stomach facing up or down.
Standing
Pallof Press : The most beneficial “anti-rotation” exercise you can do.
Band Walks: More glutes!
Single Arm Farmers Carry: Simply walking while holding a (moderate) weight. It can’t be too light, but don’t go too heavy (time is your friend).
Wall Sit: A great way to develop some quad (front of thigh) strength to balance out some glute (butt) work.
Rotations
Band Rotations: An easy accommodating way to introduce rotation.
Russian Twist: Focusing on rotating the torso.
Kneeling Chop: A great way to introduce more dedicated weight into rotation.
To reiterate
You can still do anything you did previously to your diagnosis!
Be mindful of how gravity is effecting you. Be mindful of the position of your stomach, and start slow and trust the process.
After 6 months of dedicated time spent rebuilding your foundation there’s no reason you can’t spend the rest of your life with this as an afterthought!