{"id":3064,"date":"2019-09-01T03:14:08","date_gmt":"2019-09-01T03:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metamed.co.nz\/?p=3064"},"modified":"2020-02-26T07:53:10","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T07:53:10","slug":"diastasis-recti-how-to-repair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metamed.co.nz\/diastasis-recti-how-to-repair\/","title":{"rendered":"Diastasis Recti: What Is It And How Do You Repair It?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Anna Burgess <\/a>– Osteopath<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Diastasis Recti?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Diastasis recti<\/em> is the fancy pants term for abdominal separation. It affects the ‘six-pack muscles' (they are under there!) of your stomach. The anatomical name for your ‘six-pack' is rectus abdominis muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The abdominal muscle separation occurs in both men and women when there is prolonged horizontal stress on the linea alba (line of connective tissue down the middle of your rectus abdominis muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Gets Abdominal Separation?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Both women and men can experience a separation of their abdominal muscles. There are a variety of conditions and risk factors that may predispose someone to develop an abdominal separation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Pregnant<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pregnant Women<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Diastasis recti is most commonly seen in pregnant or postpartum women, this is due to the surge of relaxin hormones that help everything to soften. Relaxin allows your ligaments and connective tissue to soften allowing your pelvis to open and accommodate your growing baby and make childbirth easier. It doesn't happen in every pregnancy but this is when we usually see it. It's the common cause of ‘mummy tummy'.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It can happen early in pregnancy or later. It's a good idea to work with a practitioner who commonly works with pregnant women so that they can keep checking if you're starting to develop an abomdinal muscle separation. There are lots of ways you can look after a diastasis to prevent it from getting worse.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"man<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t forget the Lads. <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Abdominal separation is often missed in men but can contribute to lower back pain. This is why when you come in for back pain we'll look at your whole body to try and work out all the factors you need to address to aid recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We see it lots in farmers and builders. Especially the one with the nice round beer bellies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Weight gain around the belly area can put extra stress on the abdominal muscles. Pair this with lots of heavy lifting and labor with poor technique over time can lead to separation of the abdominal muscles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the men, we often see these many years down the track and it is more challenging to work with, but we can still help. We recommend that if you are in a heavy lifting job that you learn how to use your core properly and take your time with proper lifting technique to prevent it happening in the first place. We recommend seeing a practitioner that understands abdominal separation who can prescribe a specific exercise program that includes core exercises.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the rest of this article, we'll focus on abdominal separation seen in pregnancy. But guys, get in touch if you think you have this as we can still help you!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to Detect a Separation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

To diagnose diastasis recti a practitioner will feel for a gap between muscles of more than 2cm, further imaging via ultrasound may be used to confirm a diagnosis although not that commonly used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To test yourself, lie on your back with your knees bent. Supporting your neck with one hand, inhale then exhale and gently lift your neck in an ab crunch like movement. With the other hand, use your fingers to feel in the middle of your abdominal muscles. If your fingers sink in and you feel a gap of more than two fingers, you have a separation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In more severe cases it may look like doming, bulging, sinking, in the middle of your belly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Wondering<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

What Can Cause It?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It can be hard to tell who exactly is going to get diastasis rectus in pregnancy but there are some things that can make you more likely to develop one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n