Diastasis recti is a separation of the rectus abdominis muscles. It can happen during pregnancy or delivery. It can often leave someone looking pregnant for months or years after delivery.
If your doctor, physical therapist or personal trainer has evaluated your abdominal muscle separation you can do specific exercises to help repair the damage. You might be able to correct the separation a little or near fully but everyone’s body is different. You also want to avoid typical abs exercises like crunches, sit ups, planks, etc that primarily work the rectus abdominis muscles which will further cause problems to diastasis recti.
A starting exercise after being diagnosed with diastasis recti is to lay flat on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Exhale and then make continued small exhales as you concentrate on pulling your bellybutton towards your spine. Hold for a second or two when the muscles are contracted. Inhale and begin again. Work up to 10 minutes a day.
The point of this exercise is to not work the upper abdominal muscles (think 6 pack muscles) but to focus on the transverse abdominis which is a deep abdominal muscle group.
Measure your waist circumference weekly to see progress. You should see a decreasing measurement over several weeks.
There are progressions that you can do by raising your bent knees and slightly extending one leg at a time as you continue exhaling.
I hope this exercise helps you in treating diastasis recti. It takes time (sometimes weeks or months) but you should see some progress with decreasing waist circumference.
If your doctor, physical therapist or personal trainer has evaluated your abdominal muscle separation you can do specific exercises to help repair the damage. You might be able to correct the separation a little or near fully but everyone’s body is different. You also want to avoid typical abs exercises like crunches, sit ups, planks, etc that primarily work the rectus abdominis muscles which will further cause problems to diastasis recti.
A starting exercise after being diagnosed with diastasis recti is to lay flat on your back with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Exhale and then make continued small exhales as you concentrate on pulling your bellybutton towards your spine. Hold for a second or two when the muscles are contracted. Inhale and begin again. Work up to 10 minutes a day.
The point of this exercise is to not work the upper abdominal muscles (think 6 pack muscles) but to focus on the transverse abdominis which is a deep abdominal muscle group.
Measure your waist circumference weekly to see progress. You should see a decreasing measurement over several weeks.
There are progressions that you can do by raising your bent knees and slightly extending one leg at a time as you continue exhaling.
I hope this exercise helps you in treating diastasis recti. It takes time (sometimes weeks or months) but you should see some progress with decreasing waist circumference.
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