Do I have diastasis recti?
How to check yourself for a diastasis
Width: (measured in fingerwidths wide)
Lie flat on your back with your knees bent and place your middle three fingers in/on your belly button. Let your fingers point towards your toes.
Relax the ab muscles and, slightly lift your head. If you tighten your abs, you will get a false reading. Also the muscles will get closer together the higher you lift your head.
To get a more accurate reading, it is important to measure when you first start feeling the muscles coming together. You might have to come up and down a few times so you can feel how the muscles work.
If you don’t feel the two ridges of the muscles with 3 fingers you may have to put more fingers in (or you may be flexing the abs - relax them). Two hands may be required to measure if the diastasis is very large.
Try this before reading on.
Additional Details:
Length:
Your diastasis may be worse above the belly button or below, so you may want to check a few inches above or below to see how long the diastasis is.
Depth:
the depth of your diastasis tells you a little about the condition of the connective tissue. The deeper the fingers can go in the gap, the poorer your connective tissue and more severe the diastasis. For some people, even a 1 to 2 finger gap can be significant for them IF their gap is deep.
For some, a deep gap can take much longer to heal, for others it can still heal quickly. Connective tissue healing can be dependent on many factors, including nutrition, stress (hormones), genetics ect. The Tupler technique will provide the best physical conditions possible give the connective tissue a chance to heal.
I am located in Moscow Mills, MO (45 min west of St Louis) and would be happy to check you for diastasis if you would like an experienced opinion! Please contact me to set something up. Normally I charge $25 for a 15 belly check/consultation, but the whole month of September, it will be complimentary!!
