General Discussion - Abdominals after giving birth

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Abdominals after giving birth

Printed From: CyberPT - Your Online Physical Therapy Resource
Category: Patient Forum
Forum Name: General Discussion
Forum Description: Patients can post questions and experiences about physical therapy in general for discussion.
URL: http://www.cyberpt.com/ptforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=1503
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Topic: Abdominals after giving birth

Posted By: Ask a PT
Subject: Abdominals after giving birth
Date Posted: Jan 15 2014 at 2:57pm

Our user asked: "I just took my first abs class after having a baby. There was one move I could not do at all and all other students seem to have very little trouble. It was a basic "all the way up" crunch. I can do regular crunches but to go from my back to sitting with hands reaching to the ceiling was impossible for me. What has my ten-pound baby done to me!?"

Ask a PT Response: "Congrats on your new baby! Unfortunately, after a pregnancy the abdominal muscles may be weaker and may have been stretched out (diastasis rectus abdominus) . The exercise you describe is a higher level exercise. I would usually have my patients start off with lower level ones and progresss to this exercise later. Here are some examples: http://www.physicaltherapyinnovations.com/exercises - http://www.physicaltherapyinnovations.com/exercises Best of luck to you."