Exercising with Diastasis Recti
Safe Exercises in Pregnancy & Postpartum when you have diastasis recti.
During pregnancy
The biggest concern during pregnancy is further increasing intra abdominal pressure, aka, adding pressure to the already stretched out and pressured belly. If you find that you don’t have the ability to pull the belly back in (hug the baby) when there is extra intra abdominal pressure, then the exercise is too challenging and you need to modify. Basically, any position where gravity is working against your belly (so any kind of forward lean), like being on all fours, front plank or push-up positions, you need to be able to pull your belly in. The challenge is what strengthens both the muscles and the connective tissue (which as I mentioned, improves recovery!). Modified push-ups are okay in both 2nd and 3rd trimesters. Planks you can incline to different degrees to change the challenge.
Postpartum
As soon as you’ve had your baby, you can begin the process of core recovery (video below). I cannot stress the enough the importance of completing a core recovery program. Remember how your diaphragm and pelvic floor are connected to your transverse abdominus (deepest core) muscle? These 3 muscles create your deep core. To heal properly, it’s imperative that you strengthen these foundational muscles to address any underlying pelvic floor dysfunction or poor breathing patterns that affect total core strength and posture (and resulting DR).
The good news is that once you’ve received clearance from your Dr, and after you’ve completed a full core recovery program (coming soon), as long as you can do an exercise without excessive doming or pain, it’s ok to do, as long as you don’t have any of the other issues below! As soon as the exercise starts to get easy, increase the challenge.
Questions to ask yourself during exercise:
Are you able to control doming? If doming on inhale, can you make it go away on exhale or engagement? Can you recruit muscles in a different way to change doming? Use doming as feedback! Feel the linea alba when you’re doming. The more it feels hardened, the more the muscles are stretched and working to their capacity (not a good thing). Is it fully inflated or is there give? Does it feel challenging or too easy?
Here are some other things to pay attention to while you are doing core exercises postpartum:
Do you have any pain in your back, neck or shoulders?
Do you have any incontinence (lack of bladder or bowel control) during the exercise?
Do you feel any heaviness in the vagina (prolapse)?
Lastly, what are you capable of doing core-wise? Make a list of 5-10 exercises you are capable of, and make easy to hard variations of each (this is where a trained specialist like me comes in handy!).
No exercise is too easy until you try it! Try something simple and then build from there until you feel the challenge. Rinse and repeat! The absolute best thing to start with believe it or not is deep breathing. Check out my video below for a technique you should use when breathing to start the core recovery process and strengthen your deep core.
If you need guidance, that’s what I’m here for. :)
Need individualized attention? Then book a free consult with me here!
Disclaimer: While I am a certified prenatal and postpartum performance specialist, I am not a medical professional. If you have any questions or concerns, please consult your physiotherapist.
