# Diastasis recti and lifting



## Zimbah (Feb 22, 2008)

I've recently been told by an osteopath that my abs have still not joined back together almost four months pp







. So she's given me some exercises to do and said that I shouldn't do any heavy lifting or heave myself up out of bed 'stomach crunch' style - which I'd been doing so as not to disturb the baby but am trying not to now. But I didn't think to ask what is meant by heavy lifting - I mean getting the buggy into the car is fairly heavy, and lifting the baby in her carseat is heavy, but I can hardly stop doing that. Other mamas with diastasis recti, what did you do and not do?


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## MegBoz (Jul 8, 2008)

Thankfully, I didn't have diastsis recti, but I'm a certified personal trainer & fitness instructor, so wanted to reply.

You're right - you must lift your baby in his 'bucket seat.' I think the most important thing is to not work the abdominals. So make a concerted effort to bend your knees & lift with your legs and/ or use your arms like a bicep curl or "upright row" as you lift your baby.

I'd personally define "heavy lifting" as anything that requires some effort. In my experience, for the average lady, that would be over about 15# or so.


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## wombatclay (Sep 4, 2005)

A lot of women have undiagnosed diastasis...

Have you heard about the Tupler Technique? It's specifically designed to reduce/resolve diastasis... the whole exercise program is explained in her books Lose the Mummy Tummy (post partum) and Maternal Fitness (pregnancy). My local library has the Tummy one, and both are pretty inexpensive through amazon. Also a few of the basic exercises are offered free on her website. I used the program after both births and it's really easy.

Anyway, the Tummy book goes into a lot of detail about posture, lifting, getting into/out of bed, into/out of chairs, carrying infants as well as older children while protecting the abs (includes how to get a kiddo into/out of a car seat without stressing the seperation), exercises/activities to avoid (as well as exercises/activities to try), how to use the toilet, etc! See if your library has it (or if they can get it via interlibrary loan) or flip through it at the bookstore... it's got a lot of info that your care provider probably did't think to mention. Like how to lift heavy objects that you have to lift!


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