Can you prevent diastasis recti in pregnancy?
I often get questions about how to prevent diastasis recti in pregnancy. Women come to me concerned that growing a baby will ruin their bellies or that doing the wrong thing or sitting up out of bed is going to be the end all be all of their abs.
I get it, there’s so much noise out there about diastasis recti. How to prevent it. How to heal it. What not to do with it. One can come out of all the Pinterest articles and Google searches feeling damaged, doomed, and like their bellies aren’t normal.
So today I want to dive into the topic of whether or not DR is preventable in pregnancy, which includes a discussion on how exercise considerations during pregnancy are important and why you shouldn’t necessarily freak out about your abs during pregnancy.
This is something I’ve discussed in a few other blogs, but something I wanted to touch base on in its entirety because often we don’t start diving into it until AFTER pregnancy, but knowing DURING pregnancy is not only important for your mental health during pregnancy, but can also help you feel confident exercising during pregnancy as well.
Can you prevent DR?
I just want you to take a second and think about growing a baby. It’s a HUGE task for your body. Your uterus stretches to about 500 times its pre-pregnant size with a weight of about 2 pounds. Then, magically, after the baby comes out it shrinks back down again.
If that didn’t blow your mind with awesomeness, I don’t know what will.
So, what has to change to make room for the uterus? The muscles and fascia of the abdomen. Meaning your belly expands and gets bigger to make room for the growing uterus and baby. Now, there are A LOT of factors that determine how big your belly gets, how much weight your gain, how your fascia and tissue respond to the pressure, etc. - and a lot of these factors are out of our control.
Meaning we often can’t determine, predict, or control HOW big our bellies get or how much the muscles spread during pregnancy.
We can, however, control the severity of that separation by learning pressure management strategies for every day life movements and exercises and choosing exercise in an intentional manner during pregnancy. This is what I do in my coaching, help you learn to manage pressure and lessen abdominal impact during exercise in pregnancy. This is a big reason why I created my program, Third Trimester Comfort and Calm, because that’s a big concern in the third trimester for many women I speak to.
Diastasis recti isn’t a “condition”, it isn’t an injury. It’s an adaptation our bodies make to grow and birth a baby. And it’s pretty awesome.
Prevent the Severity in Pregnancy, Strengthen the Belly Intentionally Postpartum
As I mentioned above, the goal of exercise and pressure management strategies during pregnancy is to prevent the severity of DR. While you can’t stop separation from happening, you can take steps to ease discomfort and keep your core working well throughout pregnancy in a way that supports daily function.
How? No, I wouldn’t suggest you continue doing sets of crunches and sit-ups and all the ab work during pregnancy, BUT I will say that there are plenty of other core exercises you can do and these recommendations will change person to person depending on symptoms, core engagement and function, stage of pregnancy, and goals.
So many women reach out to me saying that they sat up in bed and noticed their belly coning, so they’re terrified they are ruining their bellies. Which is simply not true. Pressure happens. Sitting up out of bed is a necessary task. Continuing to do really challenging core exercises throughout pregnancy may impact future core health, but it’s very unlikely that sitting up out of bed once a night will.
A big part of pregnancy is choosing exercises appropriately. The SAME applies for postpartum. Once the baby comes out many women think going back to core work is the only way to strengthen the belly after baby. There’s so much more to it than that. Intentional is always the answer, which is why I created my free guide 5 Ways to Heal your Pelvic Floor and Strengthen Your Core After Baby.
Exercise Considerations in Pregnancy
This is a big topic, one that I cover in depth in my blog on third trimester exercise. But, here are some basics that I repeat over and over again because they are so important:
Be aware of any coning, doming, or tenting in the belly during exercise
Watch for pain, pressure, or leaking. The pain and pressure part applies for both the abdomen and pelvic floor. Leaking doesn’t just apply to full out wet your pants situations, but also to minor leaking
Learn to manage intra-abdominal pressure- it changes throughout pregnancy so this is an ongoing thing
Know that it is okay to slow down, reduce weights and intensity, and focus on rest and recovery
In conclusion, diastasis recti is not preventable in pregnancy. Studies show that 100% of women will get some degree of abdominal separation in their third trimester. There are many factors that contribute to diastasis recti in pregnancy. It isn’t something you should be fearful of at all, but it should be something you keep in mind during your workouts!