Separated abdominal muscles, known as diastasis recti or DR, is a topic that concerns many new mothers and parents. You may wonder why you still look pregnant several months or even years after giving birth, why you feel bloated and why you feel ‘hollow’ in your core and can’t do many activities you used to be able to do with ease. Even lifting and holding your baby may cause excruciating back pain. To search for answers, you turn to the internet where you become even more confused by the plethora of contradictory information and fear-mongering, such as: only surgery can heal DR; you should only do ‘DR-safe’ exercises; avoid crunches and planks; focus on ‘closing the gap’, etc. This misinformation often leads people to avoid all movement for fear of making the situation worse.

The intention of this blog post series in two parts is to provide the facts based on the current best evidence on the subject, as well as some tips on how to start healing a diastasis.

Read the full post on the Lamaze blog.