Also called: Diastasis recti; ab separation
Exercise strongly helps
Strength
The two halves of the abdominal wall separated by a stretched midline after pregnancy. The gap width matters far less than people think - what matters is whether the tissue between them can generate tension and transfer load.
How common: 30-60% of women at 6 weeks postpartum; ~30% persist at 12 months
What it is
During pregnancy the linea alba - the connective tissue seam down the middle of the abdomen - stretches and thins to let the abdominal wall accommodate the uterus. Afterwards it may remain wide and lax, which is diastasis recti.
The measurement everyone focuses on is the width of the gap. The evidence points elsewhere: what predicts symptoms and function is whether the tissue can generate tension - whether it stays flat and firm under load or domes and sinks. Two people with the same gap can have completely different function, and it is the function that responds to training.
What it feels like
- A visible ridge or dome down the middle of the abdomen when sitting up or straining
- A soft gap that fingers sink into above or below the navel
- A sense of the middle being weak or unsupported
- Low back or pelvic pain that has not settled since birth
- A belly shape that does not change with weight loss, which is often the main concern
What causes it
Most people have more than one of these at once, and they feed each other. Read the
list looking for the two or three that sound like your week rather than for the one
true answer — the ones that describe you are the ones worth acting on.
- Stretching of the linea alba
- The midline tissue lengthens and thins to accommodate the uterus. Some separation happens in essentially every pregnancy by the third trimester; the question is how much resolves afterwards.
- Loss of tension rather than width
- The functional problem is the tissue's inability to stay taut under load. That is what produces the doming, the poor load transfer and the symptoms - not the distance between the muscle bellies.
- Deep trunk muscle weakness
- The transverse abdominis generates tension across the midline. When it is not working, nothing pulls the linea alba taut and load transfers poorly across the trunk.
- Multiple or closely spaced pregnancies
- Repeated stretching with limited recovery time between raises the likelihood of persistent separation.
- Large babies, twins and excess amniotic fluid
- Anything that increases the stretch increases the separation, straightforwardly.
- Repeated intra-abdominal pressure spikes
- Chronic cough, constipation and straining, and heavy lifting with poor breath control all load the midline repeatedly while it is recovering.
- Doing the wrong exercises early
- Crunches, sit-ups and full planks in the early postpartum period load the midline in exactly the direction that produces doming. They are not forbidden forever, but they are the wrong starting point.
- Age and connective tissue quality
- Older mothers and women with more elastic connective tissue are more likely to have persistent separation, reflecting how tissue recovers rather than anything done wrong.
- Being told to close the gap
- Not a physical cause, but a framing that sends women toward exercises that make doming worse and toward disappointment when the width does not change.
Who tends to get it
- Anyone who has been pregnant, particularly more than once
- Women who had large babies, twins or excess amniotic fluid
- Older mothers and those with more elastic connective tissue
- Anyone with chronic cough, constipation or a heavy lifting job
- Women who returned to crunches and planks early
What makes it worse, and what settles it
Makes it worse
- Crunches, sit-ups and full planks before the deep trunk can hold tension
- Any movement that produces visible doming, which is the practical test
- Breath-holding under load
- Chronic constipation and straining
- Focusing on the gap width, which is not the useful measure
Settles it
- Deep trunk work - learning to generate tension across the midline, then loading it progressively
- Watching for doming and working at a level where it does not happen, then progressing
- Coordinating with breathing and with the pelvic floor, which work as one pressure system
- Progressing to full loaded work over months rather than avoiding it forever
- Seeing a women's health physiotherapist, particularly where symptoms persist
What actually helps
The short version: Linea alba stretched and thinned; the issue is load transfer and tension, not the gap width itself
Strength work: Core: Transverse Abdominis; Core: Pelvic Floor; Glutes: Max; progressive loading including eventual curl-ups once tension is restored
Stretching: Hips: Flexors; Back: Lower Back
Massage: Not primary
Also worth doing: Breathing coordination with the deep core; progressive return to loaded work
What the evidence says: Modern evidence says gap width matters less than the ability to generate tension. Curl-ups are not forbidden - they are a progression, not a mistake.
The names above are the Targets qFIT tracks —
the Muscle Guide explains what each one does, and
Quick Add switches on the Exercises you
already have.
The qFIT routine for this
Ready-made routinePelvic Floor & Core Recovery
qFIT already has this one built. It runs massage first, then stretching, then
strength — the order that works on a body that is already sore — and every
activity in it carries the reason it is there.
The button below opens your Checklist with this routine already selected, so instead
of your whole list you land on just its Categories, Targets
and Exercises, each with its checkbox, ready to tick as you work through
them.
Have more than one problem? Tick yours under My Problems on
My Profile and your Checklist's Routine list gains
Recommended for my problems — every routine for the problems you picked, merged
into one. Your picks stay private; that filter is the only thing they feed.
Get it checked if…
Doming or coning under load means the load is too high for now; hernia (a palpable defect with a bulge that will not reduce) needs surgical review
And whatever the body part: chest pain or unusual breathlessness on
exertion; a fever alongside the pain; unexplained weight loss; pain that is constant and
unrelated to how you move; new numbness, weakness or loss of bladder or bowel control; or
one calf that is swollen, warm and painful. Any of those, stop and get assessed.
How it usually goes
Most separation narrows substantially in the first six months after birth without any specific treatment. Where it persists, targeted deep trunk training improves function and symptoms over three to six months even when the measured gap changes little - which is the whole point. The realistic goal is a midline that holds tension and transfers load, not a particular number of finger-widths. Surgery exists for severe cases with functional problems and is a reasonable option, not a failure.
Prevalence basis: Postpartum imaging studies
Others the same routine covers
These share the Pelvic Floor & Core Recovery routine, so the work is the same. If one of them also
sounds like you, that is a reason to expect more from it, not less.
This is general information, not a diagnosis, and it cannot examine you.
If it matches you, use it to ask better questions of a clinician rather than to replace one.