When Should You Check for Diastasis Recti? A Guide for 4 Weeks Postpartum
Written by a pelvic floor physical therapist at Empower Your Pelvis, a pelvic floor therapy clinic in Kansas City (Overland Park, KS and Lees Summit, MO)
Diastasis recti, better known as abdominal separation, is a physiological process that happens in 100% of pregnant women by week 37 gestation. In other words, diastasis recti is NORMAL. You often will hear a physical therapist talk about things that are “common but not normal,” well this is a little bit different in that regard. Now, there is a point in which this is no longer “normal” and needs to be addressed.
No matter what your injury or surgery is, the average time it takes tissue to heal is AT LEAST 6-8 weeks. We are talking about a c-section, vaginal delivery, abdominal surgery, or an ACL repair. What that means is when our tissues have undergone trauma it takes them time to heal. That being said, I wouldn’t recommend checking for diastasis recti in the first 4 weeks after getting home from the hospital after a vaginal delivery or c-section, because your tissues are still healing, give them time. On the other hand, we need to be aware of how we are moving our bodies during this time because there are things we can do to help our abdominal separation heal, and there are also things we can do in this time that can make it worse!
How to help your abdominal tissues heal?
Belly breathing. This is an EXCELLENT exercise to start in the first few days post partum to get your tissues moving safely.
Zip it up. This is an exercise we teach to our clients often at their first or second visit. This exercise involves contracting your deep core muscles by imagining you are zipping up a tight pair of jeans.
How can you hinder the healing process of your abdominal tissues?
Sitting up quickly to get out of bed. We teach our clients to first roll to their side and then sit up to get out of bed AS they breathe and zip it up. This helps to support the abdomen instead of adding more pressure to an already vulnerable area.
Starting “sit ups” too soon. This is probably something that we talk about most often with our patients because in their own research they have found that sits up are BAD. What I tell my clients is that they are not good to do IF you have a diastasis recti, so they should learn how to engage their other abdominal muscles FIRST before they get back to doing more advanced core exercises.
If you find that you have a diastasis recti at 4 weeks you should start with the above exercises and recommendations. If your OBGYN/nurse midwife confirms you continue to demonstrate a diastasis recti at your 6 week postpartum check up you should definitely ask for a referral to a pelvic floor physical therapist if they don’t already recommend that for you! We are able to assess your diastasis recti in the clinic and provide you with strengthening exercises, manual therapy, strategies to improve your movement patterns, and recommendations for external wearable support if we feel that would assist in healing the diastasis recti.
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With wellness in your pelvis-
Amanda Fisher
Owner, Empower Your Pelvis, a pelvic floor therapist in Kansas City (Overland Park, KS and Lees Summit, MO)
A video on healing a diastasis recti postpartum.