Diastasis Recti Exercises to Avoid.

Explore exercises to avoid and tips for managing diastasis recti safely.

Nearly 100% of women will have one at the end of pregnancy. A lot of changes happen during the initial postpartum time period and a lot of improvements happen over the first 12 months postpartum with a diastasis recti.

If you google diastasis recti exercises to avoid, the top exercises that are stated are planks and sit ups. But is this true? And why does it seem that this is blanket advice given to everyone? 

Sit ups and planks are extremely challenging core exercises. Since these are extremely challenging core exercises, many think that they aren’t safe to perform in anyone that has diastasis recti or abdominal separation. 

When it comes to advising on diastasis recti exercises to avoid, it isn’t so simple. The statement to avoid these exercises altogether is not appropriate. Each person’s perceived “hard” is different when it comes to exercises. Therefore, sometimes planks and sit ups are absolutely fine for some patients, while they may be absolutely inappropriate for someone to do at this time.

The key is “at this time”. Even if there is a diastasis recti exercise that you should avoid, it isn’t forever. Instead, it might be right now, until your core gets a little stronger.

Normally if you are starting with an exercise routine, we wouldn’t tell you to start with the hardest exercise and use the highest weight. There has to be a weaning process into the desired weight. 

We have to take your current exercise capabilities, your goals and the severity of diastasis recti into account when recommending exercises to avoid with diastasis recti, or to not avoid with diastasis recti. Therefore there isn’t a blanket list of exercises that everyone should avoid with diastasis recti. Instead, everything has to be person specific.

So how do you know what exercises to avoid with diastasis recti? The exercises to avoid with diastasis recti are person specific. In general, anything that makes the midline of your stomach bulge should be assessed by a trained professional. 

Specialists for diastasis recti are typically pelvic floor physical therapists and they are able to assess you doing specific core exercises to determine if too much stress is getting placed on the abdominal wall. Sometimes this is done through a visual assessment, sometimes the diastasis recti therapist needs to touch the abdomen to feel the muscles, and sometimes the diastasis recti physical therapist can use an ultrasound to see what the muscles of the abdominal wall are doing during particular exercises. To learn more about finding a diastasis recti specialist, click here. 

In conclusion, we can’t tell make a general statement to all patients that there are diastasis recti exercises to avoid. Some exercises may be harmful to some, while not to others. Seeing a physical therapist that is a diastasis recti specialist can absolutely benefit you.