Diastasis rectus abdominis is a widening and a thinning of the linea alba, the connective tissue that runs down the middle of your tummy connecting your abdominal wall.
During pregnancy EVERYONE will develop a degree of diastasis as the bump grows to accommodate the baby.
For some, the widening and the thinning is more significant and it does not return to normal postnatal.
There may be thinning of the skin, a visible dip or doming in the midline, or the abdomen may protrude.
Most Mums do like to know the width of their ‘gap’. However ongoing research into diastasis has helped us to understand that the size of the gap is not always important.
What we now know to be important is whether there is #tension across the midline and arguably most importantly, are they able to do what they want to be able to do with their body?!
You certainly don’t always need to close the gap to return to activities or sport!
Things which can affect how abdominal connective tissue recovers postnatal may relate to your bowel habit, the way you breathe, your abdominal muscle activation, your pelvic floor muscles and spinal mobility amongst a few.
Many people worry that there are ‘bad’ exercises to do postnatal if you have a diastasis. But actually there are no forbidden exercises when rehabilitating a diastasis, we do need to target the whole of the abdominal wall! However for some individuals there may be certain exercises that work better than others in achieving adequate tension, or load to facilitate the best recovery.
It really is an individual process. So if you are worried about your abdominals, no matter how far along you are in your postnatal journey, seek out a professional trained in assessing and rehabilitating a diastasis, who will individualise a treatment program for you.