During pregnancy your body goes through some unbelievable changes. One of them is the expansion of your abdominals as your uterus grows.
As your pregnancy progresses the right and left sides of your rectus abdominus muscle separate as your Linea alba (the tissue between that set of muscles) stretches to make room for the baby.
Because of this many women will notice an indentation in the middle of their bellies, right down the centre of the six pack area. But for some mammies the gap is wide and needs help being repaired. A wider separation is called diastasis recti. Some separation is normal but it is considered diastasis recti when the gap is significant.
Symptoms include back pain, urinary incontinence and feeling abdominal weakness.
How to test for diastasis recti.
Diastasis recti can occur above, below and at the belly button.
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your fingers at your bellybutton pointing at your hips.
Lift your head up slightly while keeping your shoulders on the ground, so your abs engage.
A small gap is normal so it is important to push down to see if there is any push back or if your fingers sink down, take note of how deep they sink.
It can take anywhere between 6-12 months to heal diastasis recti.
Most of the time it can be healed through different exercises.
