{"id":538,"date":"2013-01-15T04:14:49","date_gmt":"2013-01-15T04:14:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/?p=538"},"modified":"2013-10-17T01:21:45","modified_gmt":"2013-10-17T01:21:45","slug":"how-to-tell-and-what-to-do-if-you-have-a-dra-diastasis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/2013\/01\/15\/how-to-tell-and-what-to-do-if-you-have-a-dra-diastasis\/","title":{"rendered":"How to tell and what to do if you have a DRA (Diastasis)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"DRA\"<\/a>What a great way to start the new year…bulging tummies!
\nDuring your pregnancy you may develop stretching and separation of the middle part of your tummy muscles. \u00a0This ‘linea alba’\u00a0 holds together the outermost rectus abdominius muscles (six pack), internal and external obliques, and the fascia of the transverse abdominus.\u00a0 You can do exercises during your pregnancy and ‘lifestyle ‘changes to minimise this.\u00a0 It doesn’t happen to everybody.
\nHow to tell: and what to do if you have a DRA (diastasis):<\/p>\n

Lie on the floor on your back with your knees bent. \u00a0Place your hand flat on your belly, fingers pointing towards your toes. \u00a0Fingers should be flat on your belly. \u00a0Check in three places– belly button, two inches above belly button, and also below.\u00a0 To check; you press your fingers down as you lift your head.\u00a0 Shoulders stay down.\u00a0 If you feel a space that you can press at least one to two finger into then that is a diastasis. \u00a0The wider this space, the worse the diastasis. \u00a0It may bulge or even pulse as the underlying tissue is very thin.\u00a0 A diastasis can be caused by pregnancy\/childbirth, but also by doing too many stomach-strengthening exercises (sit- ups \/ crunches) without also strengthening the deep transverse abdominal muscle that supports your internal organs and growing baby. Men can also get DRA<\/p>\n

You may need a support belt.<\/p>\n

What NOT to do<\/strong> if you have a DRA :
\nDon\u2019t do Pilates mat classes or DVD\u2019s at home. You may do a specialized studio Pilates programme where you are working 1:1 or in a very small group .\u00a0 Get your belly assessed by a Women\u2019s Health Physio <\/a>\u00a0first and she will help you with a safe exercise programme.
\nDon\u2019t brace and bear down or strain…this will increase the pressure inside your tummy and in the effort to hold your tummy in strongly you will be putting\u00a0 too much pressure on your pelvic floor.
\nMost of the Pilates mat class exercises that you can do at your local gym or at a \u2018boot camp\u2019\u00a0 will not only not help<\/strong> your mummy tummy, they may make it worse, or even create a diastasis where there was none before.\u00a0 \u00a0When your diastasis starts to heal, you can do certain exercises which are designed to help your DRA, but not crunches or sit- ups..Make sure your Women\u2019s Health Physio talks to your Personal trainer or Pilates teacher… This is how we spread the word….
\n\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong>DRA from the front\"\"<\/a><\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

What TO do<\/strong>: When doing these exercises make sure you can feel your Pelvic floor lift
\nDo belly breathing. \u00a0When you breathe, feel your lower belly expand, and when you exhale, let your lower tummy come all the way back. Do not forcefully push your upper abdomen out while doing belly breathing.
\nDo Practice perfect posture as much as possible.\u00a0 Squat or bend at the knees to lift things or babies.
\nCarry your baby as close as possible and try to maintain good posture when you do!!! \u00a0When breastfeeding, don’t slouch to get breast to baby.\u00a0 Prop baby higher with pillows, or lie down next to baby to\u00a0feed.
\nDo abdominal work:
\nDeep tummy (Transverse abdominal muscle) is the start, together with pelvic floor lift. A range of\u00a0side lying ,kneeling on hands and knees ,sitting and standing exercises can be taught with this deep bracing support.
\n\"\"<\/a>Seated Tupler Technique While breastfeeding, remember good supported posture pillow(s) under baby, bring him\/her up to you, rather than bringing your breast down to them,
\nPlace your hands on your tummy, one above the belly button, one below. Take a belly breath and expand tummy to floor one. (Floor 1 is all the way out, floor 5 feels like your tummy is touching your spine), Hold for 30 counts but count out loud so you know you’re still breathing. Then pull your tummy back even further for a little squeeze, and count as you do 5 of these squeezes, and release make sure you relax. Feel your side waist drawing in too. Do\u00a05 sets of these every day and don\u2019t forget your pelvic floor lift first…and breathing….<\/p>\n

Courtesy of\u00a0 http:\/\/diastasisrehab.com\/before-after.html<\/a><\/em>
\nCheck yourself and then check with your Women’s Health Physio <\/a>to get the right exercise level,reps and sets..get to it!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What a great way to start the new year…bulging tummies! During your pregnancy you may develop stretching and separation of the middle part of your tummy muscles. \u00a0This ‘linea alba’\u00a0 holds together the outermost rectus abdominius muscles (six pack), internal and external obliques, and the fascia of the transverse abdominus.\u00a0 You can do exercises during […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-core-control","category-post-natal-2","category-16-id","category-17-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=538"}],"version-history":[{"count":48,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":929,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/538\/revisions\/929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/petersphotogallery.com\/vanea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}