Proper Posture to Heal a Diastasis

Posture is everything when it comes to healing a diastasis. Our bodies will form to the shape we put them in most of the time! Simply being mindful of your body shape can make a huge difference in your core function, tone and strength.

There are two key postural tips that you can practice throughout the day that will make a huge difference when it comes to healing a diastasis:

1. Lengthen and elongate your waist

2. Be mindful of your head position

Performing these 2 things simultaneously will lead to a reduction in pressure in the abdomen - specifically the linea alba, and a gentle upward and inward reflexive activation of the core muscles. If you are able to achieve maintain these postural aspects throughout your daily activities, you will be healing your diastasis all day long (as you hold your baby, breastfeed, walk, cook, clean, lift, etc.)

By implementing these key postural tips as frequently as possible during as many activities as you can, you will reduce pressure on the diastasis, encourage the abdominal muscles to come back together, and promote overall healing.

Now, let’s take a deeper dive into these top postural tips that can make all the difference in your diastasis rehabilitation journey.

Postural Tip One: Lengthen and Elongate Your Waist

The first key tip for healing diastasis is to keep your waist long and continually elongate your spine. You can achieve this by lifting our rib cage up away from your pelvis. When you lift the rib cage, the organ draw up and in naturally because there is more space in the abdomen and pelvis. This helps reduce the pressure on the separated abdominal muscles, allowing them to come together more easily. When the waist becomes taller, its circumference naturally decreases.

When you do this, focus on lifting your rib cage upward and away from your pelvis in the front and back. The space that is created between your ribs and pelvis, will reduce the strain on the diastasis. Try to maintain this posture as you stand, sit, and move throughout the day. The more you practice it, the faster your healing process will be.

Postural Tip Two: Be Mindful of Your Head Position

Your head position also affects your diastasis healing. When your head stays in front of your shoulders for an extended period of time, extra strain is placed on your lower belly and this makes it harder for your deep abdominal muscles to work properly and leads to distension of the lower abdomen. 

To address this, be mindful of keeping your head aligned over your shoulders. Try to keep your ears directly above your shoulders as much as possible. When you're breastfeeding or carrying your baby, it's natural to look down and move your head around, but try to return to the aligned position frequently. Doing this will provide a continual input to your core that tightens the abdominal fascia, gently activates the lower abdominal muscles, and improves your overall posture.

Paying attention to your posture is crucial for effective diastasis healing. By implementing these two key postural tips, you can optimize the recovery process and support the ability of the abdominal muscles to come back together. By incorporating these postural tips into your daily routine, everything you do can promote the healing of your diastasis.

Remember, proper posture can be a powerful tool in your quest to rehabilitate your core and achieve lasting diastasis resolution.

If you have a diastasis, rest assured, it can be fixed no matter how far post partum you are. In The Core Recovery Method® Online Program, you can learn all the skills and exercises necessary for closing a diastasis in a simple and comprehensive protocol. The Core Recovery Method is ideal to use during pregnancy as well as post partum in order to facilitate healing and speed up post partum recovery. Train your posture properly, and effectively close your diastasis for good.

When optimal breathing is combined with ideal posture, magic happens in the core and healing occurs quickly.

In addition to how you breathe and posture throughout your day, consistently implementing 10-20 min of targeted rehab exercise for the core, 3-5 days/wk is another highly effective way to close your diastasis for good. Stay tuned for next week’s blog post, which will teach you a hypopressive exercise flow specific to healing a diastasis.

Learn more about proper posture to heal a diastasis with The Core Recovery Method® Online Program, a simple yet comprehensive guide to optimal core health.