Rectus Diastasis - nightmare for pregnant ladies

Quoting my friend Karen, "Pregnancy really does have a toll on the woman's body!"

Besides putting loads of fat on the body, pregnancy can throw the woman's body out of balance, create tension, weaken muscles and even damage joints. Rectus diastasis (abdominal separation) is just another "job hazard" that pregnant woman may suffer. 

The combination of abdominal weakness, hormonal changes, weight gain, and abdominal wall stretch exerted by your growing baby, can cause muscle separation along the centerline of the abdomen. It is more common in multiple births and repeated pregnancy and it usually persists long after the woman gives birth (Karen said one Pilates instructor recovered only 15month after the delivery!!!). 

Well, rectus diastasis can actually be prevented. Exercise no doubt is beneficial to both mother and fetus, but one must be sensitive and avoid doing certain exercises (see another post for exercise guideline). In Pilates class, strenuous flexion-based exercises plus long lever loading on the abdominals  (e.g. 100s with straight legs at 45 degree, Plank) should be avoided.

Not sure if your abs separated? Do this self-test.

When I was pregnant, I did more exercises on Reformer, while on the mat I only did pelvic tilt, quadruped, mermaid, Chestlift, femur/leg circle, side lying/kicks, small degree of spine stretch, spine twist.  

Karen pointed me to a video on abdominal separation on youtube. It was posted by Samsara, a Pilates and pole dance instructor, who also suffered from abs separation. Like what she said in the video, doing Pilates helps close the separation because it strengthen the transverse abdominals which act as a corset. 

More videos on Rectus diastasis:

How It Affects Exercises for Pregnant Women

How to recover from Diatasis