Abdominal Diastasis

Ever heard those big words before? Abdominal Diastasis.

Abdomoinal diastasis basically means that the pressure of carrying that precious baby has caused your ab muscles to separate. :(

You probably remember that immmediately after you gave birth that your tummy was soft and really squishy. Well, since then hopefully your abs have regained their strength, but if not -you may have abdominal diastasis.

Here is how to check if your abs have separated:

To check for diastasis:

  • Lie down on your back and bend your knees. Then take one of your hands and firmly cover your belly button with your fingers (your fingers should be pointing down towards your pubic bone).

  • Take a deep breath. Then lift your head and neck slowly as you exhale. You should feel your ab muscles tighten in the middle.

  • There will be a gap inbetween your ab muscles. See how many fingers fit in the gap. If you can only fit one or two fingers, then your muscles are fine. If you are able to put 3 or more fingers in the gap, then you most likely have separated abs and will need to take care of your muscles to avoid hurting yourself.


    • What this means is that you should be careful when lifting heavy items, and you should also be cautious with the type of abdominal exercises you do to lose weight.

    I recently watched this video on iVillage, and even though I'd read quite a bit about abdominal diastasis before...I felt like it was quite informative in explaining the type of exercises you can do. Perhaps it was the video format that made it so interesting...take a look.

    Posted by Debbie-the-Mom  

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    1 comments:

    I was told by my doctor that I should do lots of abdominal exercises to strengthen what I have. I had major diastasis and a hernia on top of it... (all from my little 6 pounder! lolol!)

    He said the more strengthening I do with my ab muscles, the better.

    I'm extremely active, so that sure wasn't going to keep me from lifting and doing anything I would have done prior to kids.

    info said...
    November 7, 2007 10:49 AM  

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