Diastasis Recti: The Whole-Body Solution to Abdominal Weakness and Separation

I found out about this book after googling Diastasis Recti. I have a couple of her books already, so the minute I found out about this one, I ordered it. I have been dealing with DR for 13 years. Until now, I thought the only option was surgery, which I am not willing to do. This book is easy to read and she explains things very well. Her personality and humor come out in her books, and with this one, I feel like I got to know her a little better because of the personal details she goes into regarding her DR. She goes into the mechanics of why DR happens (and not just to women-but men as well!) and how to correct it. It is a whole-body issue and she walks the reader through the necessary steps to fix what needs to be fixed from a whole-body perspective. The book is set up well, with facts and mechanics in the beginning-building the foundation for the physical stuff toward the end. I like how the back section has all of the suggested exercises and photos that she suggested earlier in the book, but are now all in one place so I don’t have to flip through it to find them. This was a personal purchase. I was in no way asked or required to leave a review.

This book is helping me regain core strength!

Postpartum mom here, looking to remedy the mild diastasis and core weakness I have after multiple pregnancies (including one with multiples!). I found this book to be an outstanding resource in the area of body alignment and posture. Katy Bowman very clearly defines what healthy body alignment is and how body alignment either heals or exacerbates a diastasis recti (DR). I came away from the book with ready-to-implement ideas for bettering my posture as I sit, stand, and move through daily life as a busy parent and felt encouraged to move more and move more mindfully. Why only 4 stars? Well, I will admit that one thing I was looking for (and am still looking for) is a simple 5-20 minute daily core workout with DR-friendly exercises. There are whole chapters full of exercises in this book, but most are aimed at stretching and restoring mind-body connections to each of the muscles that link up with your core. Only a couple target the core specifically. Yes, Katy's overarching point is that DR is a whole-body problem that requires a whole-body solution. But at the end of the day, many of her readers, like myself, may want more specific core strengthening exercises that meet her criteria of working multiple muscle groups through a range of motion. I am aligning my body more effectively now, but...my core is still weak! Another pro/con of this book (and it is both a pro and a con) is that tailoring her recommended exercises to your situation is up to you. There are several chapters of exercises, which makes it both a versatile, adaptable sourcebook and a bit of work for the reader. It's up to you to try the exercises, see which are most applicable to your body and situation, and create your own plan to do them regularly (I'm guessing that not many of us have the time to do every one every day!). This is NOT a "read the chapter with the core workout and just do that" kind of book. In the end, though, her holistic view of DR is right on target--resolving it is not a matter of "fixing" one thing, but of addressing multiple factors (posture, diet, lifestyle, etc.). This book supplies that vision and a solid plan for addressing some of those areas. You may find as I did that it does not solve every problem or provide every resource you need to improve your DR, but it gets you started and heading in the right direction.

3 years after my second kid was born, despite return to my morning yoga / strength / walking routine, I had still had a pretty wide Diastasis Recti. (Important to note: this book talks about and helps solve this issue even if it had nothing to do with pregnancy! Guys can have Diastasis Recti too!) I found one of those “28 day” online excercise routines and did it (it was tedious), with some improvement. But at the end of it, I still had some separation and worse, I didn’t know what those exercises did for me and whether I ought to be modifying any of the rest of my standard morning stretches to avoid aggravating it. The internet had a lot of generic advice (“no twists! No planks!”) but not a lot of rationale or specifics. Enter Katy Bowman’s Diastasis Recti book. It explained why and how the separation was formed and maintained, and gave me the information I needed to (most importantly) change my posture in my daily life so that I wasn’t constantly straining and weakening the linea alba (the part that stretches to allow the separation), and also to help me understand how to modify my morning exercises to strengthen and loosen the rest of my abdominal / waist / shoulder / hip muscles instead of stressing out the linea alba. A month later, my Diastasis Recti is compeletely gone, and I feel empowered to keep it that way. Thanks, Katy!

I just finished reading this book and I absolutely love it. Finally a book about diastasis recti that clearly explains the biomechanical reasons why it's not going away. There are many stretches and exercises in this book and, at first glance, they look easy. Ha. They have been very challenging for me. I had no idea how tight my muscles were nor how much those tight muscles were pulling on my abdomen. I also had no idea how poor my alignment was - just working on that alone is challenging. But I feel like I am now headed in the right direction. Thank you, Katy, for your clear explanations, your humor (which makes this book fun to read), and for giving attention to this issue which affects so many. I feel hopeful now! UPDATE: I've been following this program for almost 3 months and I am seeing improvement. DR is smaller and connective tissue has gone from deep to medium. My alignment has improved, too. It's much more automatic now,

I have a diastasis recti 15 months after having my twins. This book has some good information, but doesn't seem to be geared to my healing specifically. I guess it is difficult to write a book for one size fits all. I was a bit turned off by this book when she stated to not hold your abs in. I have always believed that holding your abs just a bit helps to support your low back and maintain good tone in your abs instead of letting it just hang out. I started physical therapy for my diastasis recti and my PT said that it's okay for me to hold my abs in when she evaluated me and said that I was doing it properly. This book seems written for people who developed a diastasis recti after years and years of bad habits. It starts out with a lot of alignment issues and assumes that everyone has bad alignment. I believe that I developed my diastasis recti after having my twins, having 3 pregnancies in 5 years, and being almost 40 years old. I have been performing exercises from my PT instead of the ones in the book and I believe they will help more than the slight adjustment exercises in this book. I will continue to explore some of the exercises, but I don't feel that this book is user friendly for following the exercises.

Have been working off and on for years on DR—in and out of pf physical therapy—and I have had the most progress towards healing with this book. After tackling the “small movements” section for two weeks consistently, I feel much more aligned, and I have adjusted my posture in a way that helps to not stress out or pull at my abdomen, and also helps me to breathe more fully. I feel overall more mobile. Highly recommend this book!

Shut up and get out of town!...these are already working and I’ve only done a few of the easy exercises. My stomach is notably flatter in just a few days, I can hardly believe it. I mean I was just grasping at straws before as to why my stomach wasn’t getting flat, even though I finally reached my pre pregnancy weight and it was always flat before. I’m not 100% there but I woke up excited this morning and want to share. I noticed first thing because I kept feeling my abdominal muscles in every movement I was doing. I think now that they are aligned better, they are properly engaging throughout the day and most likely sore from not being properly used for a while. Just my own guess as to what’s happening. I’m super excited to keep going and tone up even more!