How to Test yourself for Diastasis Recti – during pregnancy

How to Test yourself for Diastasis Recti – after pregnancy

Diastasis Recti mostly occurs later in pregnancy or during twin and triplet gestations in earlier pregnancy. In most cases the separation heals after the pressure of the baby or babies is released. Depending on the severity of the diastasis (separation) you will need to stay away from traditional ab/core exercises until the separation is healed…keep reading to find out how severe your separation might be and what you can do to close the diastasis. For some women it might be a long road ahead – but start today with the 6 simple movements listed below and you can pull those muscles in tighter in just a few weeks!

Diastasis recti is a common condition encountered during pregnancy, mostly in the 2nd & 3rd trimesters for singleton pregnancies and early pregnancy for twin and triplet pregnancies. It is a temporary separation of the abdominal wall and usually goes away after the baby is born. It is not harmful, but during pregnant and non-pregnant exercise you need to modify your workout. This is done for you on the Moms Into Fitness pregnancy DVDs. *Note: if you are pregnant with twins you need to read the MIF exercise modifications here. If you are pregnant with triplets or high order multiples you should NOT exercise.

The word diastasis means “separation” and the rectus abdonimis muscle is the center muscle of your “six-pack”. What happens as a result of your expanding belly is this muscle can become separated from the linea alba. The linea alba is line of fibrous tissue that runs down the midline of your abdomen. It separates your rectus abdonimis muscles into a left and right side. Sometimes, as your baby develops and your abdomen expands, a slight separation of the muscle from the dividing tissue can occur. If you have this condition, then you should not do the traditional Core exercises. Generally, women don’t have this separation during the first trimester, but if you experience any discomfort in this area, you may want to ease up on the core exercises.

After pregnancy, diastasis recti usually goes away within a few weeks. Some moms (less than 5%) have diastasis recti 2-20 years after having a baby. If you are one of these moms you must use the Moms Into Fitness modifications found on Boot Camp 2 and the CFS Method DVDs. It can take several weeks to several months to heal the diastasis. But doing traditional ab exercises will make it worse, so you must do exercises specific for diastasis recti.

The condition is not serious and in most cases will heal after the baby is out. Because it is caused by the expanding of your belly, those of you who are carrying twins or who are having a larger baby are more susceptible to it occurring.