Ab separation (Diastasis recti) anyone else?

[Twinsand1toddler]

I've read ab separation (diastasis recti) is common In multiple pregnancies so just wanted to see if anyone else has had it? And if anyone's had physio or surgery for a gap over 5cm which has helped? I had a abdominal 5 cm gap with my 1st now 2, I closed this abit with exercise and the gap was around 3cm when I got pregnant with twins which I got a very big bump with so it's not a surprise I've got a bigger ab gap than 1st time round over 5cm. I'm getting bad back pain when lifting my twins and toddler alot so my GP said to try specialist physio. Just wondered if this worked for anyone with over a 5cm gap? Or if it didn't how long did they have to do physio before they had surgery for this?

[thaigreen]

Hello, I had a 5cm separation, I didn’t have surgery or physio but when my twins were toddlers I had a few months of personal training with a trainer specialising in this area (Mutu system). I also read up on the Tupler technique and tried to regularly do the key exercise from that. The gap closed very gradually over the years. I thought it would never close completely and avoided planks and sit ups which are meant to make it worse. Last year I went to a yoga class and mentioned this to the teacher who happened to be qualified in post natal yoga. She checked and said I no longer had a gap - my twins were 10 so it did take a while

[Twinsand1toddler]

Thanks it's good to know the gap eventually closes. Did you get back pain with your ab separation? I'm hoping it'll get better but just worried back pain worsens if the gap doesn't close or takes a long time to close like you said as my twins are only just nearly 9 months!

[thaigreen]

I think the gap would have closed much quicker if I’d put a bit more effort into it! I used to get back pain in the morning during pregnancy and for a few months afterwards. It was as if my back stiffened up overnight, not sure if this was caused by the diastasis but it stopped after I lost the baby weight.

[idontlikealdi]

I had 6cm separation and did nothing about it for two years. I eventually got back to training with someone who knew about it and it closed. I've now go a layer of non baby fat on top but pretty tights abs underneath that!

[LBTM]

I had a 7cm gap after my 3rd (big baby and small gap between pregnancies). I saw a physio a couple of times about a month after giving birth and got some really useful excercises (the useful thing was being told what the most important one was for me if I only had a couple of minutes a day spare). The gap is down to about 2cm now after 15 months but I do bulge quite a bit if I'm bloated or period on its way.

[LBTM]

I meant to add that I don't have any back pain except what you'd expect from lugging a tired 3 year old up a hill.