Separated abdominal muscles from pregnancy

Pregnancy stretches the connective tissue between the two sides of the rectus abdominis muscles. This can leave a softer or wider midline and a doming or bulging shape when you sit up, cough, or lift. Some people notice reduced trunk strength, back discomfort, difficulty getting up, or a feeling that the abdomen lacks support.

The appearance of a gap does not by itself show how well your muscles are working. A clinician or physiotherapist can assess tension, breathing, posture, pelvic-floor function, and movement rather than relying only on a finger-width check.

Use your breath during movement and begin with gentle exercises that coordinate the deep abdominal muscles and pelvic floor. Roll to your side before getting out of bed, avoid breath-holding, and build lifting and walking gradually. Stop an exercise that causes pain, marked doming, pressure, or leaking.

A postnatal physiotherapy assessment can tailor exercises to your birth, symptoms, fitness, and daily tasks. Recovery is not a race; progress is better judged by control and comfort than by how the abdomen looks on a particular day.

Arrange an assessment for persistent pain, a pronounced bulge, worsening weakness, difficulty with everyday movement, or symptoms that interfere with lifting or caring for your baby. Seek urgent help for severe abdominal pain, vomiting, faintness, fever, or a tender lump that cannot be pushed back.

Ask whether your symptoms fit diastasis recti, which exercises are suitable now, how to modify lifting and feeding positions, and whether you should see a postnatal physiotherapist. Mention back pain, pelvic pressure, urinary leakage, or a bulge that changes with movement.