Recently had a child and trying to get back in to shape? Doing all the right things like exercising, healthy diet and the weight is dropping, but your tummy still looks as if you haven’t delivered yet?

With an ever increasing pressure of regaining the pre pregnancy body shape as fast as possible after delivery many women rush back in to the gym or other forms of exercise as soon as possible. Exercise after delivery is as important as during pregnancy, however the body has to be ready. If you don’t see results and your tummy shape doesn’t improve you might suffer from a separation of the abdominal muscles, which can happen during pregnancy to allow room for the baby to grow, especially if the baby is very large or it is a multiple pregnancy. This condition is called Diastasis Recti and not uncommon. In most cases the gap closes a few days after birth, but sometimes it persists causing a flabby unsightly tummy or back and stomach pain.

As long as the gap hasn’t closed normal abdominal exercises won’t help improving the appearance of the tummy, but rather aggravate the condition and widen the gap.
While frustrating for many women a visit to a physiotherapist specializing in women’s health can help. She will be able to assess the severity of your condition and after that develop a treatment program. There are a variety of tools like Hypopressive exercises or a specifically adapted Pilates program for core strengthening which help closing the gap. Manual therapy can help with spine or pelvic imbalances and very important are correct techniques for a lot of daily activities.
It may take up to a year for your body to recover from having a baby so don’t give up. Only very occasionally a marked gap will persist that causes symptoms and that requires surgery.