What should I do if my belly cannot be retracted after giving birth and cracks are created, also known as “postpartum diastasis recti abdominis”? Do I need surgery? Can it be done without surgery? Today we will talk in detail. The essence of the postpartum diastasis recti abdominis is that the belly was stretched too far during pregnancy, resulting in partial destruction of the abdominal wall muscles and tendons, the longitudinal midline of our abdominal wall – medically known as the white line – cannot return to its original appearance after childbirth, becoming thinner and wider, making the two sides of the diastasis recti abdominis originally close to the outward separation. In appearance, there is a significant bulge in the central area when the abdomen is strained, and a deep groove is seen at the midline when the abdomen is closed. Since the pathological change in this condition is a thinning and widening of the midline and separation of the rectus abdominis muscles to the sides, the principle of treatment is to make the midline thicker and narrower and to bring the rectus abdominis muscles back together in the middle. So how can this be done? It seems that the most straightforward method is surgery, to sew up the two sides and close the fissure. When you hear about surgery, moms are scared (panic expression), the midline is 30 centimeters from top to bottom on the belly, who can stand such a big cut and scar! Is there another way? Can not open the knife? The first thing to do is to press the alarm. First of all, I would like to tell you that most of the postpartum separation of the rectus abdominis does not require surgery, and most of the separation can be improved with exercise. Is it a lot of relief? But what? Separated mothers should also be prepared, exercise is still a hard and relatively long process. How to exercise? The first thing that comes to mind is definitely the sit-ups. no, no, no! For the rectus abdominis muscle separation of this case of exercise, must use the correct method. The first is the abdominal exercise, the correct is to do a variety of “close” exercise movements, such as flat support, standing abdominal, kneeling abdominal, kneeling leg extension, supine leg lift, supine leg lift, etc.. The most common exercises for abdominal muscles are sit-ups and other flexion to increase abdominal pressure, as well as Russian twists and other twisting movements are contraindicated, in addition to many strong stretching and twisting movements in yoga are also not suitable. There are many moms who wonder if these exercises are effective and do not seem to be exercising the rectus abdominis. Here I want to tell you that the excessive stretching during pregnancy actually includes the entire abdominal wall, which means that it also leads to the relaxation of the lateral muscles and tendons outside the white line, only the midline is the most prominent, and effective exercise will strengthen the abdominal wall as a whole, so that there will be an overall “tightening” effect. Also can be combined with a variety of appropriate aerobic exercise, such as swimming, brisk walking, jogging, jumping rope, cycling and so on. Most of the self-perception effect is to adhere to the exercise 1-2 months later, most mothers adhere to three months after the improvement. Exercise should be after the recovery of the body after childbirth, generally after 2 months as early as possible, the best effect within 6 months after childbirth. If the separation is found two or three years after delivery and then exercise, the effect will become worse. In addition, some mothers still have pelvic floor function problems after giving birth, should also go to the hospital or at home for pelvic floor rehabilitation training; some hospitals also have electrophysiological stimulation will cause the abdominal muscles to contract passively so as to strengthen the muscle group training can also be tried. If there is a significant improvement after 3-6 months of exercise, and the width of separation can be restored to within two fingers, you can continue to exercise without surgery for the time being. However, if the correct exercise for more than six months is not effective or the separation continues to expand, then it is indeed time to consider surgical repair.