Belly Bands After Pregnancy… Yay or Nay?

In our latest blog post, we talked about some women using belly bands for additional support during their pregnancy, particularly to reduce symptoms of lower back aches and pains due to stretching of the abdominal muscles to accommodate the growing baby. However, now that you’ve had your baby (congratulations!) you might have expected your abdominal muscles to magically return to their previous state. The reality is that nearly all women experience some degree of diastasis recti during their pregnancy. Diastasis recti is a widening or separation of the vertical line of fascia between the rectus abdominus muscles (six-pack abdominals) that run vertically on each side of the abdomen. Those abdominal muscles NEED to widen to accommodate the growing baby - that is a normal and natural part of pregnancy!

By 6 weeks postpartum, one study indicates that 60% of women still have a diastasis recti present. At 1 year postpartum that number drops to around 32% of women. This indicates that most women will naturally see their diastasis recti reduce in severity and slowly return to a normal position.

Women may wonder if it is beneficial to use their belly band postpartum, or another kind of abdominal binder to help approximate the abdominal muscles. For the majority of women this is not necessary and likely does not help speed the recovery of the abdominal wall. So…skip the belly band postpartum…and reach out to your local pelvic floor physical therapist to help guide you.

In severe diastasis recti cases, your therapist may recommend a supportive brace or a taping technique to help during your recovery. Most often, learning about how to activate your deep abdominal muscles is much more important and helpful in your recovery. Your pelvic floor physical therapist can help you learn what exercises are safe and effective, rather than performing sit-ups and other abdominal strengthening exercises can may actually worsen the diastasis recti or increase other symptoms you may be experiencing in combination with your diastasis recti (low back pain, pelvic pain, and/or urinary leakage are VERY highly correlated with presence of diastasis recti).

Skip the belly band postpartum. Know that diastasis is very common after childbirth, but also know that if your diastasis is not improving after the initial 6 weeks, or you are experiencing low back pain, urinary incontinence, or pelvic pain in addition to your diastasis - then it’s time to reach out to your pelvic floor physical therapist to guide you on your journey to full recovery postpartum!

Written by: Renee Hancock, Pelvic Floor Specialist