Tuesday 19 February 2013

"Mummy tummy"


Diastasis recti, otherwise known as separated abdominal muscles is something that can occur to pregnant or post-partum women. It's when the left and right abdominal muscles get separated, often due to the growing uterus during pregnancy and stretching of the muscles. It can and often does persist long after giving birth. It can mean you're left with a bit of a protruding tummy and depending on how large the separation is, you may suffer from bad back pain and can be more prone to developing a hernia.

I was told I had this after my second pregnancy but initially wasn't given a lot of information on what I could do to try to encourage the muscles back together. Fifteen months later, nothing has changed and I still have a separation. Since starting some pilates classes, I've been given some suggested exercises to do that should help. In extreme cases, especially where back problems are involved, a tummy tuck operation to stitch the muscles back together is the only solution.

I've never been very good at doing exercises every day. I rarely remembered to do my pelvic floor exercises that pregnant women are advised to do many times daily. Yet, as a generally slim female, I hate the little tummy bulge I still have and don't like the idea of having separated muscles. I'm trying to keep that in mind and use it as motivation to do the recommended exercises on a daily basis.

When I read around on a few forums and such like, there aren't many mentions of people successfully getting their muscles back together, but maybe it's only the worse case scenarios that people think are worth sharing. I'll keep at the exercises and hope they work to good effect.

Have you or anyone you know had separated abdominal muscles? Did they eventually go back together?
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photo credit

2 comments:

  1. Ooh, that doesn't sound good :S My tummy has never gone back to flat either, and I too am generally slim (I was VERY slim before baby!) I actually did remember to do my pelvic floor for 3 or 4 months post birth (plenty of time by the incubator with nothing else to do) so I don't think I have that issue. Pretty sure my bulge is just cake :)

    I wish you luck! xx

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    Replies
    1. Thanks :-). I have to wonder if not doing enough pelvic floor exercises while pregnant contributed to the problem....xx

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