Our next blog series has been inspired by one of our former bada$$ employees! She decided to start a family, which many of you may remember, because she worked through much of her pregnancy!
Carolyn brings an amazing perspective because she understands the physical therapy side and can bring that knowledge, as well as personal experience, to these entries. We hope you find these as informative and helpful as many other pregnant and new moms have!
From Carolyn: 10 months ago I did not feel like I would ever get my abs back. I had diastasis recti, separation of the abdominal wall. After having two babies so close together, my stomach still looked pregnant months after giving birth. Finally it is going away because I modified my workouts. If you have diastasis recti make sure that you do NOT do traditional sit-ups or planks as they will make it worse. You need to strengthen your core from the inside out.
There is a test you can do to check to see if you have it so you can heal yourself without doing any further damage. The test is: Lie on your back with your knees bent, and the soles of your feet on the floor. Place one hand behind your head and the other hand on your abdomen, with your fingertips across your midline – parallel with your waistline – at the level of your belly button. With your abdominal wall relaxed, gently press your fingertips into your abdomen. Roll your upper body off the floor into a “crunch”, making sure that your ribcage moves closer to your pelvis.
Move your fingertips back and forth across your midline, feeling for the right and left sides of your rectus abdominis muscle. Test for separation at, above, and below your belly button.
If you suspect that you have it, come talk to us at TOPS to see how to best manage this situation. You can also talk to your health care provider on how to proceed further.
Take care of yourself first!!!
Next week we will be posting about safe exercises to perform, and in the future, we will post on a safe return-to-run program.
*For more information and constant updates/inspiration, please follow Carolyn Frye on Facebook. Also check back in with our blog, as we will be doing a series of information regarding this topic!
**Disclaimer: these posts are meant to be informative, but not diagnostic. If you have any further concerns, you can reach out to us, or to your medical provider. We will do our best to help.
