Get your tummy muscles back in action and reduce the gap



Are you finding it difficult to get back to exercise because your tummy muscles just aren’t how they used to be and won’t work properly? This may also be connected to your pelvic floor function, is this as good as it should be? 

Your tummy may not have gone back to how it was before the baby, and your muscles may have separated (diastasis) but there is help out there to improve matters and that help is me! 

It is inevitable that your tummy muscles have to stretch to allow your baby to grow but following this, some people recover quicker than others. I wouldn’t expect too much before 12 weeks, so do expect to have a soft tummy for a while. 

Beyond 12 weeks, if tissues haven’t stretched too far and if you have a good collagen quality – this is genetic so it’s a matter of luck, you would expect things to be firming up and any gap between the tummy muscles that was there initially will be smaller and firmer. 

Unfortunately, there will be some of you out there that the gap will remain larger and softer for some time after this 12 week period. There is no definitive answer as to how long it will take to change as there are many contributing factors. As mentioned already, one of them is dependent on your collagen type so it’s a matter of luck.

Other factors will include the size of your bump in comparison to your body frame size – your tissues will need to stretch further if you have a large baby in a small frame. If you have already had a baby and your tissues are already a bit lax then it will take a bit more work to regain the strength in the tissues. If you have had a large baby or a baby that has sat quite high under the ribs, the ribs will probably have ‘flared’ which means the muscles between them and those that attach to them from the abdominals won’t be able to function properly and will ultimately prevent the diastasis from healing. 

Every one of you is different and how a diastasis affects you is individual too. This means that every one of you that has a diastasis will need a different and bespoke exercise and healing programme to make this better. You won’t get this from a regular exercise class, you need someone to assess you properly to see which muscles are actually working, which ones need more focus to activate and which muscles and soft tissues need to be ‘released’ and made more mobile. 

I can do all of this with you with the ‘Diastasis healing programme’. I will visit you at home and commence an exercise programme with you and progress it over an agreed period of time to get the best out of it. This does mean that you will need to be prepared to do a small amount of homework, I know what it’s like to try and fit this in so it will definitely be achievable to make sure this programme is a success for you. 

Because a diastasis can linger due to changes in tissue function and flexibility from postural changes during pregnancy, there may also be a need for some ‘hands on’ soft tissue release work around the abdomen, trunk and pelvis region and this will also be carried out where appropriate.