Why Sit-Ups Are Not The Answer To A Flat Stomach Post Birth
After having a baby it’s a known fact that your body has been through a lot and it’s natural that changes have occurred…
Everything has been stretched to the max and straight after birth a lot of mums I speak to say they are desperate to get a flat tummy; naturally they think sit ups are the best way to achieve this.
Here’s the thing…
It’s quite common for a lot of women to develop a gap in their abdominal muscles as their belly expands during pregnancy. This is a condition called diastasis recti (otherwise known as abdominal separation), and you may be surprised to hear that the exercises you think you should be doing to “get your body back” (sit-ups) can actually be making the problem so much worse.
In very simple terms, if you do a sit-up and the abdominal wall has a gap, this can potentially further separate the abdominal muscles, making a post-pregnancy belly worse.
So what exactly is Diastasis Recti?
If you think about it, once you look at the diagram below it all makes sense:
Your abdominals are joined on the left and right side by connective tissue that runs along the midline. This tissue is called your linea alba (shown in blue in the illustration). During pregnancy the linea alba softens and stretches, allowing the abdominal wall (shown in pink) to expand as your baby grows inside you.
The linea alba can take a huge amount of stress and stretching during pregnancy, especially towards the tail end when your body has been stretched to the max. Pretty incredible if you ask me!
When the linea alba is stretched so much that the two sides of the rectus abdominus separate, that my friends is what is known as Diastasis Recti.
Rest assured, it’s very common and it’s not the end of the world if you do have this condition, it just means you need to be careful with the abdominal exercises you chose to do.
For example, I would suggest that you either eliminate or modify most “prone” exercises. Prone exercises are those in which the belly “hangs” down, such as the plank and push-up.
And most of all I would say no to sit-ups because any exercise that cause your belly to “bulge” is unsafe.
To help get your body back to tip top function, I think every woman needs some re-training of the abdominal muscles and core after giving birth – just think about what your body has been through to grow and deliver your baby.
I strongly believe that working with a physiotherapist who is trained in treating diastasis recti will allow you to monitor how well your separation is healing so that you know exactly how long you need to continue your diastasis rehab plan.
Remember, don’t be afraid if you do have an abdominal separation. Just make sure you are working with the right people to get you separation back into check so that you core and spine are supported as you need to be strong to deal with the demands of your growing baby.
If you are unsure if you have got a separation I suggest that you visit a physiotherapist to check and if needed, get some good advice to rehabilitate the muscles before doing any kind of abdominal work.
