What is Diastasis Recti?

Today I want to address a common concern that women have

during pregnancy and give some insight into it! Diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA) is the separation of the two heads of the recuts abdominis muscles. So basically the 6 pack of abdominal muscles separate and the line that connects them (the linea alba) stretches.

DRA is 100% normal and expected to occur during pregnancy. Think about it, your belly is stretching to the size of a watermelon! Your abdominal muscles HAVE to stretch and separate in order to accomplish this amazing task. If the linea alba didn’t stretch, our bellies would have no chance at accommodating a growing baby.

Obviously, every mom to be is different and therefore has a unique linea alba width prior to even getting pregnant. So one mama’s separation might be drastically different/more/less than another’s just solely based off of how their body was pre-pregnancy.

Another thing that people are misguided on is that you can’t prevent diastasis recti from happening during pregnancy. It’s absolutely going to happen, but you can learn ways to support it. There are so many factors taking place that are out of our control as mom’s to be including genetics, how we carry the baby in utero, baby’s preferred position in utero, location of the placenta.

How can we protect and support diastasis recti throughout pregnancy?

· When picking items off the floor bend at the knees and exhale when lifting (see video below)

· Straighten up your posture! Our bodies will want to go into a posterior pelvic tilt, but we can easily correct this with conscious core activation

· Practice deep core exercises (safely) daily. Some of these include quadruped TAs, diaphragmatic breathing (360 breathing) (see video below)

· Get support if needed! Find a belly band or belt to help carry baby

The point of all of this is to say that developing some level of diastasis recti during pregnancy is 100% normal and expected! If you have more concerns about it then please reach out to me or find a local women’s health physical therapist to assess and assist you throughout your pregnancy and postpartum!