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diastasic recti

don't blame diastasis recti postpartum misinformation

Is diastases recti really that bad?

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It’s misinformation time again…

I might be a little passionate about this one.

Why? 

I was a victim too back when we didn’t know any better. 

Now we do.

A story on Good Morning America about Ashley Tisdale began as a story about how hard it is to navigate postpartum & ended with some unfortunately common misinformation about diastasis recti. The advice this doctor was providing was literally out of the year 2000.

Let’s make a few things abundantly clear about diastasis recti:

♦️It’s not painful

♦️It’s not preventable 

♦️Sit ups are not damaging

♦️You aren’t broken with DRA

Instead, can we update what we DO know:

🟢All women have DRA in pregnancy

🟢Cat/cows aren’t enough

🟢DRA isn’t a sentence for lifelong inactivity

🟢Pain may mean hernia NOT DRA

🟢Surgery is a LAST resort

🟢Physical Therapy 1st

The second you conceive is the second you lose control. We should be focusing on education instead of prevention because some things are impossible to prevent.

Diastasis recti DOES NOT mean you’re broken! Abdominal separation HAS to happen! You don’t want to prevent that!

Literally, at least once a week, someone comes in saying they need treatment for their diastasis recti. (I’m serious, it’s the gateway drug to postpartum physical therapy). They have leakage, but they won’t come in for that. They will come in because they don’t like the way their abdomen pooches out. 

DRA just isn’t that big of a deal. If you have pain, we need to make sure you don’t have an umbilical hernia because that IS a big deal. 

Stop telling moms that cat-cow is enough, because it isn’t.  

We are not delicate and I will tell you from experience. When my youngest was 3 and I was doing these tiny “strengthening” exercises (because that’s all I thought I could do), I felt so weak.

What do I do now? Whatever the hell I want! I bend, lift, overhead press, snatch. And I’m fine. And I’m strong. 

We shouldn’t be afraid and we need to stop scaring moms. What have you been told about DRA?

the oprah of diastasis recti Thumbnail

I am the Oprah of Diastasis Recti

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You get your sit ups back! You get your planks back! 

Learn more about why DRA clients are my fave!

I really look forward to when someone comes in and wants their Diastasis Recti checked.  They think “My abs are split down the middle. I need to get this fixed.”

The general sentiment out there is women who don’t like how their abs look aesthetically assume the problem is diastasis recti.

Muffin top, afternoon bloat. ALL of it. 

Usually Dr. Google says “NO PLANKS NO SIT UPS!” And if you heed that “advice”, you feel weak and delicate. Most coaches and trainers don’t know enough to know how wrong that is. 

Listen, I fell for it, too. That’s what I used to tell people, That’s what I did myself! And guess what…

It didn’t work!

But I’ve since seen the light! There was no way I was going to get stronger with what I was doing (which was nothing, because that’s what I was told.) 

How can anyone get stronger by doing nothing?!?

But now I get to be Oprah. 

I get to give planks back. I get to give crunches back. 99.4% of the time, the separation isn’t bad enough to impose limits on exercises. 

Letting women know they don’t have to be scared of this thing anymore is just the best. 

But eventually the aesthetics question comes up. And I totally relater to that! But that’s a rabbit hole for another day.

I think the reason diastasis has gotten so much press is people want to know WHY they look so different, and if there’s a medical diagnosis behind it, it’s easier to understand. 

But if we can move past that, we can get so much more for ourselves. Letting someone know it’s safe to do a freaking sit up is priceless.

It’s a way to knock fear off the table. It’s just nice to give someone their life back.

Controlling your coning or doming is just a matter of motor development. Seriously. It’s a party trick for me know. I’ve trained to control my own and can manifest it with certain movements, if I so choose (TADA!!!!).

If you have questions about your diastasis, or any other postpartum issues, I’m always here to help!