We are a non-profit company set up by patients. We provide impartial information to other sufferers of this condition.
Diastasis recti abdominis is the medical term for a separation of your six pack muscles.
It is present in 30% of mothers 12 months after pregnancy. This increases to 60% of mothers who carried twins or more. Many of those women suffer as a result of this condition. If you haven’t ‘bounced back’, please read on. It also impacts men, women who have not been pregnant and children.
We do not promote any specific treatment or program. Instead we offer information about the condition. We offer research about the different treatment options that are available, because it can be treated. And we offer case studies of real people. You are not alone.
We also seek to work with health providers in the UK to improve patient experience from diagnosis to treatment.
Diastasis Recti-UK is patient led and funded by donation only.
It is a work in progress and looking for collaborators. Whether you are sufferer, practitioner or researcher, please do contact us to share your story or be involved.
Let’s work together.
DR-UK is a work in progress and looking for collaborators. Whether you are a sufferer, practitioner or researcher, please do contact us to share your story or be involved.
Patient Stories
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Extra Mental Load
There is that awful thing of feeling physically ‘broken’ and constantly feeling it is our responsibility to do endless boring exercises in order to feel anything like ‘normal’. I really like exercising but it was having to do really ‘uninteresting’ exercise for marginal gains and knowing that the exercise I do enjoy doing would just make it worse. The extra mental load is huge and completely underestimated. I am absolutely in favour of embracing a post-baby body but not when it causes huge discomfort and limitation!
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I didn't realise how much pain I was in, until I wasn't.
I had DR repair surgery to put back together what my twin pregnancy tore apart. Just 4 weeks post op and I feel like a new woman. I didn’t realise how much pain I had been in until I wasn’t. I have my sense of humour back and finding joy in day to day life again. And I can both engage my pelvic floor and keep breathing at the same time. That’s new.
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I feel like I have been written off.
I haven’t had kids. I ended up like this after emergency surgery. I saw a physio who diagnosed diastasis recti and said ‘you can’t do anything about it. There is no point seeing you again.’ What do I do now?
Lisa, 51, no children
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“EXAMPLE: I have other underlying mental health conditions, but my depression score went from 19 down to 6 just because of the surgery. Everything feels like it is in the right place now and the pain signals are following their proper routes so I can tell what is actually hurting. Before this there was pain, but it was so difficult to describe I didnt' feel heard by my doctors and I thought I must be imaging it."
Treatment Pathways
GP
Your GP is often your first point of contact. Abdominal pain is tricky so they are likely to try to rule out a number of issues first. They should be able to assess you for Diastasis Recti, refer you on for tests, scans, physio or surgery.
A challenge at present is in spreading understanding and awareness of the condition and its consequences to GPs throughout the country. Patient stories show large variation into how GPs respond to patients with this condition.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapists will be able to assess the extent and severity of the gap between your rectus abdominis muscle by feeling the tummy while you move in different ways. They can release trigger points, relieve pain, and provide specialist strengthening exercises to help rebuild your whole collection of core muscles and by restoring function to your core, reduce associated pain.
There are a number of specialist diastasis recti exercise program providers out there. Many promise great results and offer success stories. However, these often require up-front fees with limited information available to distinguish between providers.
Surgery
When the diastasis is too wide, too lax or too deep for exercise to be able to restore function, ‘muscle plication’ surgery is a solution to bring your rectus abdominis muscles together and ‘zip up’ your abdominal wall. This can be done by gastric surgeon with a vertical incision down the mid line, or it is often done by a plastic surgeon with a lateral incision between the hips, with scope to manage the excess skin that will arise from reducing the space between the muscles.
Understanding the point at which surgery becomes the most suitable option, and then accessing information around options available on the NHS, or distinguishing between private surgery providers is a barrier to patients for whom this would be a suitable treatment.
Other Support
Mental Health
Chronic physical health issues often come with impacts on mental health. Your GP may be able to refer you for counselling, and there are private therapy options available.
Alternative Therapies
There are a number of supporting therapies that can help you manage related symptoms and pain. These therapies may be helpful in reducing the symptoms, but may not treat the cause.
Support Groups
There are a number of online support groups for the sufferers of diastasis recti. Many of these are on social media platforms. Each have their own purpose: some for general chat, some run by providers, and some for specific treatment pathways.
Impartial information and library of resources
The separation of the rectus abdominis muscles, with associated stretching of the abdominal wall fascia, can be debilitating.
What are my treatment options?
What challenges do patients face in their day to day lives and in being assessed and treated for this conditions?
What research exists on the condition?
This section is a work in progress, where we are working to collate the latest research and findings to help sufferers make informed choices.