The Importance of Posture in Postpartum
There are so many important items that we have to think about every single day; clothing, feeding, cleaning the little’s, not mention trying to get in a moment to do the same for ourselves and the whole work/life/balance thing! We can go all day long (a lifetime even…) without thinking about our posture and breathing.
Thankfully, we can do this, our body is designed to still be able to function on its own (maybe just not optimally) - again, all the other things that we have to do take priority. But when you can, for just a moment, go stand in front of the mirror and turn to the side. Pull your spine up nice and tall - the idea is to raise the crown of your head to the sky. What does this do to your posture? Do you notice any change? Perhaps a big change in your posture? What does this feel like? Did you feel any muscles relax? Or, is there more tension through any other muscles?
We tend to underestimate the importance of good posture. When we are in poor posture we are over stretching some muscles and over contracting other muscles, creating a sometimes painful imbalance. This can set off a chain of potential issues, or exacerbate existing conditions.
Diastasis Recti
Have you been told that you have a diastasis recti? This is the separation between the stomach muscles that is natural occurring during pregnancy. The problem is that it doesn’t always go away on its own, and can linger for months or even years postpartum. But you can work to remedy it, even if it has been many years!
How do you know if you have a diastasis? Well, if you have been told by a practitioner, great - it’s good to have confirmation. You can also look up a diastasis self-check video online (there are a ton!)
A pretty telltale symptom is if you are attempting to do a crunch and your stomach muscles pooch into a triangle, tent or “doming” as it is often referred to. And, no matter what you do, you can’t get it not to do that. It can be so frustrating!
In the self-check videos they will almost always have you stick your fingers in between the stomach muscles to see how much space is there when you do a small crunch. This is a great tool to work with to get a baseline number for measuring progress. However, not all of the videos explain how the depth of your fingers is actually more important.
When you do the test for how many fingers you can fit in between the muscles in width, how deep are you able to put your fingers in that space? (This should not cause pain) If you are not able to put your fingers in very deep before you hit muscle underneath, then the lower levels of abdominal muscles are engaging and you have a great foundation for working to close the gap. However, if you don’t feel any muscles push up against your fingers on the depth, then that is where you start.
You want those deep layers of your abdominal muscles to be firing up first, and to be getting stronger, in order to begin to help pull the separation back together from the inside. Working to get yourself in proper posture is one of the first steps to take when trying to get those deeper layers of abdominal muscles to fire first.
Rib Flare
What if you know you have a diastasis, and you’ve done some rehab exercises, but no matter what you do the gap persists, or the depth just won’t go away? Then we start to look at your body movement above and below the diastasis. One of the first things to check? Your rib position. This is where posture starts to play a big role.
During pregnancy our ribs begin to flare to make room for a growing baby. The rib flare and the diastasis are very normal adjustments that our bodies naturally take to make that room. But if your not getting proper nutrition, sleep and exercise, or if you had poor posture even before pregnancy, then it can be really tough for the body to easily heal a diastasis or for the rib flare to self correct. This is when we have to make some changes to help promote healing.
When you are in the mirror looking at your posture, check out the movement through your rib cage. Take some deep breaths and work on relaxing and contracting the muscles all the way around your ribs. Are you able to make your lower ribs expand on the inhale and contract on the exhale? Can you feel a good range of motion in both directions?
It’s on that nice contraction that you may begin to feel a bit of strength behind the diastasis that you hadn’t felt for a while. We practice in front of the mirror because the visual range that you can see is a great external message for the body. Then, go lay down and take some deep breaths with the same posture. Do you feel the movement through the muscles of the ribs? Can you feel that strength behind the diastasis? Maybe test again on the exhale, do you feel any difference in your test (finger width or depth?)
This isn’t a quick fix. But it’s where you start.
It takes time and practice to instill the habits and to strengthen the muscles. But arguably, if you don’t address posture issues, then you will likely not accomplish the extent of healing that is actually possible.
Now, go back to the mirror and work through the checklist below -
Is your head nice and tall? Bring your chin in just a bit. Not quite to a double chin, just not jutting forward.
Roll your shoulders back just a bit. Not much, we don’t want to cause a rib flare. Just enough that you feel some of those stomach muscles fire up.
Take a deep breath and see if you can feel the ribs expand and contract while remaining nice and tall.
Roll your pelvis forward and backward. Where does is feel like it is most comfortable and lined up just under your rib cage?
Bonus if you feel your pelvic floor muscles move! Did they lengthen just a bit on the inhale, and contract just a bit on the exhale? Way more on this in a future blog!
After walking through the above steps, did you notice a big difference between your everyday posture and the new alignment? Or did you feel any extra strength through your stomach muscles that might not have been there before? How do your neck, back, and pelvic floor feel?
Take just a few minutes to practice this everyday. Maybe you can start incorporating it in some of your daily habits? Give it a shot! See how you improve, and if you feel more muscular changes as you work with it. Then retest the diastasis in a week, and in a month.
If any of these movements are causing you pain, a pelvic floor physical therapist can be super helpful to ease the pain and walk you through the healing steps. There are a number of pelvic floor physical therapists out there - check out the Pelvic Guru Directory to find one near you! There are even some that will come to your house (no babysitter - yay!) Concierge Physical Therapy may offer this in your area!
If you don’t have access to a provider, or just want to try it on your own - check out the eBook “Getting to the Core of Postpartum Fitness”, for step-by-step instructions that you can follow in your own home and on your own time.
Whatever choice you make, know that there are steps that you can take to repair your diastasis and any other physical issue that you may be experiencing in the postpartum - no matter how far you are from your postpartum experience. When you begin to incorporate proper posture in your habits, see how many little changes (or big changes) you start to notice. And, let me know, I’d love to hear about your experience!
