In this 3 part series, I'm going to be covering a complicated subject that effects many people; Diastasis Recti.
What is Diastasis Recti? Essentially this is a herniation of the Linea Alba (the facial separation of the right and left rectus abdominis muscles) and a bulge will become visible when pressure in the abdomen increases. Often most noteable when laying down your your back and flexing the upper body part way up from that position.
Why does it occur? This occurs because of dysfunction of the core and an inability to handle intraabdominal pressures. By core I'm referring to the diaphragm, the pelvic floor, and the muscles that make up the cylinder between those two structures.
This is why so many women post pregnancy deal with this issue. Their musculature is slowly stretched to the max over the course of 9 months, and in a matter of hours, the baby comes and the body is left with that cavity. Although the soft tissue will recoil in a relatively short period of time, the strength and coordination of those muscles to work properly in the context of breathing and bracing are often lost.
The big focus on recovery should be restoring coordination and function of the diaphragm, pelvic floor, and the outer rim of your core cylinder.
This second video discussed the Pelvic Floor dysfunction and why kegels shouldn't be your only pelvic floor exercises.
Remember, the main job of the pelvic floor is to resist the pressures from the contents of the abdominal cavity in the upright position, and help stabilize the sacrum. When you perform kegels, it has been shown to shorten those muscles and increase tone int he pelvic floor, however, when a muscle is chronically tight, it often becomes weak because the muscle muscle fiber linkages are already maximally contracted and don't have the pliability necessary to work functionally with the other muscles what help stabilize the sacrum; the gluteal muscles.
So in order bring BALANCE to the pelvis, you need the pelvic floor and the glutes to be working well.