New moms ask me this all the time, so I thought it would make a great blog post!
Q: How quickly after giving birth can I begin post-natal diastasis physio?
A:The sooner you begin the better.
My preference is to start during the pregnancy, as soon as the diastasis is noticed, presumed or diagnosed. This way we can start patterning your muscles to work together, in synergy. When you are more aware of how your core abdominals work it patterns your neurological system and that’s really half the battle. It also helps bring more blood flow to these muscles, and that translates to quicker healing times. Also if I get to see you before the baby does, I can show you exactly what you need to do immediately post delivery, I’m talking minutes, ok let’s be more realistic, hours, after delivery.
If you have already delivered your baby I can see you now. In my program, the first step is education. The beginning exercises to close the diastasis deal with the synergy between the diaphragm, pelvic floor, transverses abdominis and multifidis. They are 100% safe post natally as there is no resistance involved, just posture, breathing and patterning. We then build this into your everyday patterns of movement (ADLs). Once you are cleared by your midwife or physician, we start to add resistance and peak engagement exercises.
Splinting is often recommended, depending on the size of your diastasis and integrity of the connective tissue (that linea alba between the two recti). Most of the healing happens in your first 6 weeks, so doing the right thing from the start is the most effective way to resolve a DRA.
It is truly never too late to start either. It’s just more work the later you start, and the results can take longer to achieve.
Do you have a DRA? If so, when did you get diagnosed? Have you started treatment?
PhysioExecellence 