What is Diastasis Recti?
All pregnant women are going to have a widening of the space between the abdominal muscles. Sometimes this space will close as we heal in the postpartum phase, and other times this gap in the abdominal muscles may need extra help to help align the tissues to heal better.
We have several layers of core muscles, and we also have right side and left side core muscles.
Between the right and left core muscles, we have a line of connective tissue called the linea alba. During pregnancy, our bodies are really smart - to make room for a growing baby, this line of connective tissue stretches and thins, which causes the right and left muscles to get further apart to make room for baby. This is a diastasis! Basically, everyone has a diastasis by the end of their pregnancy.
After baby is born, sometimes that tissue spontaneously heals on its own, and sometimes it needs more time and intentional support to heal. This can be due to a lot of different things – how many pregnancies you’ve had, if you have a shorter or a longer torso, if you have carried multiples, your activity levels during pregnancy, posture, pressure management, and more.
Diastasis recti can come in many shapes and sizes - sometimes it has an easier time healing in some places than others! As this image shows, a diastasis can be the whole length of the tissue, or more noticeable in one spot.
When we are checking for a diastasis, we check different locations along the center line of the core to see if/where there is a lingering diastasis. When we do this, we are checking for a few different things:
Is diastasis present, and where?
How wide is the diastasis?
How deep is the diastasis?
How Do I Prevent A Diastasis Recti from occurring?
If you are pregnant, you will have a diastasis recti to some degree because your body needs to create this space for the baby. But there are many things during pregnancy that you can do to try to prevent putting extra pressure through the linea alba, and create good habits during pregancy, so postpartum healing is a breeze. Check out our pregnancy blogs that go in to more specific detail on how to use your core during pregnancy.
How Do I Know if I Have a Diastasis?
There are many symptoms that may indicate you have a diastasis:
Feeling disconnected or very weak to your core muscles
You notice a ridge or “coning” along the centerline of the core with certain movements or activities (anything from specific core exercises to sitting up in bed)
Low back pain
Pelvic floor symptoms (tightness, leaking with coughing/sneezing/jumping, pain)
Feeling like you bloat more easily, or have a persistent lower belly “pooch” postpartum
There is an easy way to check for diastasis at home.
Lying down on your back with your knees bent, place 2 fingers along the centerline of your core and press down a little bit. From here, gently lift your head off the ground – not a crunch lifting head and shoulders, just lifting your head! If a diastasis is present, you would feel edges of muscles closing around the sides of your fingers, while your fingers sink a little between those muscle edges. Check this about 4” above your belly button, at your belly button, and 4” below your belly button. We check to see how wide the diastasis is, and how deep the fingers sink between the muscles.
Can My Diatasis Heal?
YES! Even years later, diastasis can be healed and improved. For some, healing the diastasis looks like complete closure of the gap. For others, there may be a gap remaining side to side, but the depth of the gap changes. If there is a gap side to side, but we can no longer sink our fingers deep between the muscles, that also indicates healing and more control of the core muscles as well as better tension in the linea alba.
How Do I Heal My Diastasis?
We need to identify the factors that are contributing to the tissue not spontaneously healing. There are many things that we could be doing that over strains the tissues consistently throughout the day which makes it hard for it to heal.
Some common contributing factors to a lingering diastasis are:
Posture – if we tend to stand with our knees locked, glutes clenched, and shoulders shifted in front of our hips, we are stressing that tissue constantly and not allowing for good muscle support and healing.
Breathing – a lot of us have trouble taking a deep breath! Our core is a pressure management system. Your diaphragm is the top, your core muscles are the walls, and your pelvic floor is the bottom of this system. As you breathe in, the diaphragm, core, and pelvic floor should all react and gently move together, and as you breathe out they should relax and recoil together. If we are constantly holding so much tension that we don’t have coordinated movement with these muscles and can’t take a deep breath, this strains the diastasis.
For more details, check out our blog on diaphragmatic breathing.
Strength – often we need to work on strengthening the core muscles and hip muscles to better support healing! If our core muscles and hip muscles are not quite as strong as they need to be to help us repeatedly pick up our kids, carry car seats, or do household chores one handed while holding a squirmy toddler all day, it is harder for our bodies to heal because they don’t have the support they need. Motherhood requires a lot of strength!
Diastasis and Physical Therapy
At Anchor Physical Therapy, we look forward to helping you return to doing what you love without feeling limited or painful! Learning more about your core and how to support the healing journey can help you feel strong and capable in the day to day. We are here to help empower you!
Now offering 30 minute Diastasis Recti Movement Screens! Book an appointment online to learn if you have a diastasis recti, or if you are using your core muscles correctly. This is essential for return to working out postpartum, but can be helpful for most people!
Chelsea Tulimiero, PT, DPT
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