How to improve diastasis recti safely

Diastasis recti is a stretching and widening of the connective tissue between the abdominal muscles. It can appear after pregnancy and may be associated with a midline bulge, reduced trunk support, back discomfort, or difficulty managing pressure during movement. The visible gap is only part of the assessment; how your abdominal wall works matters too.

A pelvic-health or postnatal physiotherapist can assess breathing, posture, abdominal tension, lifting technique, and related pelvic-floor symptoms. Improvement varies with recovery, symptoms, and daily demands.

Begin with comfortable breathing that lets the ribs and abdomen expand without force. Practise gentle deep-core engagement while exhaling, then build toward everyday movements such as rolling, standing, lifting, and walking with steady control. Increase effort gradually and stop an exercise that causes pain, breath-holding, pelvic pressure, or a pronounced abdominal doming.

A tailored postnatal physiotherapy programme can help you choose suitable exercises and progress them safely. It may also address scar discomfort, pelvic-floor symptoms, and return to higher-impact activity.

Arrange an assessment if the separation is painful, associated with a persistent bulge, affects lifting or daily activities, or does not improve with careful exercise. Seek urgent care for sudden severe abdominal pain, vomiting, a firm tender bulge, or inability to pass stool or gas.

Ask how your abdominal wall function should be assessed, which movements currently increase pressure, how to progress exercises, whether you need pelvic-floor rehabilitation, and when it is appropriate to return to running, jumping, or heavier lifting.