Abdominal separation - will swimming make it worse?

[Wishingaway]

I am five months post birth and have a gap between my abdominal muscles. I have seen a physio who has given me exercises to try and pull the muscles together again. Unfortunately a couple of my appointments have been cancelled and I've been unable to ask if swimming will make things worse. My GP was unable to advise me on this .

To complicate matters I had bad tearing during the birth of my child, so I guess breast stoke may not be a good idea?!

Hi Wishingaway

Welcome to the club of seperated muscles!

I am 10 months post birth and still have sepereated muscles. My gap is now down to about 2 fingers.

You can go swimming but you're only really supposed to do front crawl.

Not sure how big your gap is but I was recommended swimming by physio almost from start.

To help close the gap, you can also do the Julie Tupler exercises - you can get the book off amazon for a fiver - she specialises in closing the gap. It really really works. My gap was 6/7 fingers and is now down to 2.

Sorry to hear about your tearing - And yes think breast stroke is bad for that.

Front crawl is much more helpful for the tummy anyway according to my physio.

Or you could do back crawl if that is preferable. My physio is very anti breast stroke for anyone as it hyper-extends the spine and can also lead to back pain.

And finally, your GP!!!! Unable to advise on that!!! That said my GP missed (on 3 occassions!) my 6/7 finger seperation with my bowel herniating thru! Wonder if they're all mornons when it comes to womens post birth issues!