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in collaboration with
Dr Odile Bagot (Gynecologist-obstetrician)
Medical validation:
February 24, 2023
Since her twin pregnancy, Delphine Colas (XXL Families) has suffered from rectus diastasis, a distension of the abdominal wall. How does this deviation occur? And how to treat it? The answers of Odile Bagot, gynecologist.
While diastasis of the rectus abdominis is common during and after pregnancy, it is nonetheless bothersome. Delphine Colas, mother of five children, knows something about it, she who risks disembowelment.
Delphine Colas: “I can’t do abs”
It was during her previous pregnancy that Delphine Colas saw her abs deviate.
“My abs got loose with this pregnancy. […]. I can’t do abs and I don’t even want to go to my Aquabike class anymore. The teacher does a lot of abs during class, but I’m not allowed to do them because I risk disembowelment.”
The young mother had indeed taken almost 35 kg: her two babies, Victor and Alba, weighed at birth almost 3 kg for one and 3.2 kg for the other.
However, multiple pregnancies and weight gain during pregnancy are risk factors for diastasis.
NO to diets, YES to WW!
This is a gap or spacing of more than 2 cm between the rectus muscles and the abdomen. This diastasis of the rectus muscles can be congenital or occur after pregnancy.
“When the belly takes on a very large volume, the rectus muscles – muscles inserted under the ribs which are stuck together – will separate. They will be more or less distended, depending on the weight gain. In case of twins, the diastasis is obviously more severe“, confides Odile Bagot.
To treat it, abdominal rehabilitation “with the help of a professional” is necessary.
In effect, “Above all, do abs alone at home after pregnancy. It could aggravate the diastasis“, warns the expert.
When this spacing is “severe”, the patient risks eventration: that is to say the passage of the small intestine or the large intestine, or both at the same time, through the abdominal wall.
“In this case, surgery should be considered.“says Dr. Bagot.