We get a lot of DMs from worried followers on what they can do to prevent DRA or what to do now that they notice they have DRA.
First, abdominal separation is NORMAL during pregnancy. It is a necessary adaptation to allow for more space for baby to grow. Almost all of us will have diastasis, especially if we carry our baby into our third trimester.
But, we do not need to maintain diastasis after birth into the postpartum period.
Let’s break down how we can approach rebuilding our core after birth to heal a diastasis in the postpartum.
But first, let me ask you something…
Are you feeling anxious or unprepared for childbirth? Our Childbirth Education Course can help alleviate those worries and give you the knowledge and skills you need to confidently approach childbirth.
Our comprehensive course covers everything from pregnancy and labor to postpartum recovery. With expert guidance and support, you’ll learn valuable techniques and strategies to help you have a safe, empowering, and positive birth experience.
Enroll now in our Childbirth Education Course today and take the first step towards a more confident and informed childbirth journey.
Ok, let’s continue…
Cross-Body Approach: Healing Diastasis
What is happening when diastasis recti is occurring? The connective tissue of the abdominal wall is thinning in order to stretch. This thinning makes the tissue more easily manipulated by pressure changes in the abdominal cavity.
If we cannot withstand the change in pressure, we may see abdominal coning, hernias, or other pressure management issues.
How can we heal diastasis?
Increase the density of the connective tissues and muscles of the abdominal wall.
One of our most successful ways to increase the density of the abdominal wall to heal diastasis is with cross-body movements.
When focusing on healing a diastasis, we want to focus on not only closing the gap (bringing the separation together) but also increasing the density of the tissue (the depth of the gap). We can do this with cross-body movements,
Cross-body movements focus on the anterior oblique sling: the chest/oblique to the opposite adductor (inner thigh). Think of your arm reaching to your opposite knee, or rotational to midline exercises.
Diastasis Recti Healing: 5 Exercises To Try
Here are 5 exercises to try that can help the Diastasis Recti healing process. We are going to separate them into two groups: Floor-based cross-body and Upright cross-body core exercises.
Floor-Based Cross-Body Core Exercises
When rebuilding after birth, it can be helpful to start with floor-based exercises. This allows us to freeze the degrees of freedom (limit overall movement) to focus on reconnection.
Then we can progress to more upright movements that would include more stabilization requirements by being in an upright position.
We include these progressions for you in our postpartum fitness programs!
1) Opposite Knee Press
The first floor-based cross-body exercise is the opposite knee press. In this movement, exhale to reach across your body to press into your opposite knee.
Advancements: Elevate the hips as you press.
Watch the breakdown video to learn how to do this exercise to support healing your DRA.
But that advice alone may still feel very overwhelming! What do these progressions even look like? Let’s explore it!
If you want it all laid out for you step by step, join our postpartum fitness programs! We offer our programs in three main ways:
- 16-Week Postpartum Program in the Teambuildr app. Workouts are 45-75 minutes long to help you get back to big lifts, jumping, and running. We want you to be able to do WHATEVER it is you want to do physically.
- 12-Week Postpartum Mini Program in the Teambuildr app. Workouts are 15-20 minutes long to accommodate a busy schedule! Same programming design, but condensed to make t more manageable time-wise.
- Postpartum on-demand program are our full-length workout videos that you follow as you work out at the same time!
2) Floor Press and Knee Press
The floor press and knee press advance the opposite knee press to incorporate some weight! If we are noticing a plateau with our healing after birth, it could be that we are not challenging ourselves enough!
In the floor press with knee press, exhale to press the weight up with one arm. With the opposite arm, press into the same side knee.
Watch the video for a breakdown on how to do this exercise.
3) Floor Press with Banded Leg Resistance
The floor press with banded leg resistance advances the floor press by adding some resistance to the leg! The band increases the adductor (inner thigh) activation.
In this movement, you should really feel this diagonal activation across the core to the inner thigh. It is my favorite floor-based core exercise to do during pregnancy and postpartum.
In this movement, place a band around the inside leg. Then, exhale to press the weight up as you lift the opposite leg.
Advancements:
- Lower band towards the ankle (increases the length of the lever)
- Increase weight
- Elevate hips
Watch the video for a breakdown of how to do this exercise.
Upright Cross-Body Core Exercises
As we move more upright, we are increasing the demand from gravity on our bodies. We now have to stabilize our lower body as we rotate and move toward the midline.
But, we NEED to move upright with our core exercises! Healing DRA and exercises focused on healing DRA need to be upright because we do not live our lives on our backs or on the floor.
If you never advance your movement to your feet, you will likely see a plateau in your healing OR you will see issues in your movement patterns when you are upright.
4) Diagonal Banded Pull Down
The diagonal banded pull-down can be done seated, half kneeling, split squat, or standing! There are a lot of variations for this movement.
Starting with the outside leg forward, exhale to pull the band down towards the outside leg. We can advance this by increasing the resistance or adjusting our stance to a less stable set up.
Watch the video for a breakdown of how to do this exercise.
5) Pallof Press + Rotations
Another rotational-focused exercise is the pallof rotation. In the pallof rotation, the band is aligned with the chest, as opposed to pulling diagonally downward.
In this movement, exhale to push the band away from the chest then rotate away from the point of attachment.
We can advance this by increasing the band resistance, moving further from the point of attaching, or changing the stance to a less stable set up.
Watch the video for a breakdown of how to do this exercise.
Rebuild Your Core After Pregnancy
When approaching healing from diastasis or DRA, we need to focus not only on closing the gap (bringing the muscles together) but also increases the density of the tissue (the depth of the gap). Increasing the density ensures that the tissue can better resist pressure changes in the abdominal cavity during exercise.
We can increase the density (and heal a DRA) by focusing on cross-body movements! We include movements like these and more in our postpartum return to fitness programs.