Are You a Mom Considering a Tummy Tuck... Wait!
 | By Dr. Karen French
Chiropractic Physician |
Before you go under the knife, exhaust all options from surgical to non-surgical and consider your least invasive approach first.
For many women who have gone thru a pregnancy, getting a toned stomach is HARD WORK! Some of my patients complain of a “saggy tummy”
above the waistline that won’t go away no matter how hard they work at trimming the waist. This is because your rectus abdominis muscle has stretched to max capacity to accommodate for the growth of your baby.
After childbirth, many women work hard to get their abdominal muscles back into shape by doing endless crunches with no real result. The reason for this is you are targeting the rectus abdominis muscle the wrong muscle. The transverse abdominis muscle, the innermost abdominal muscle is the muscle that you need to concentrate on. Proper rehabilitation of the abdominal muscles will get you the results you need.
We call this Core Stabilization. Furthermore, these are also the muscles that protect the low back. A more serious degree of abdominal weakness is when the right and left sides of the rectus abdominis separate which is a condition known as Diastasis Recti. This condition is common not only in women who have had c-sections but in women who had weak abdominals before becoming pregnant.
Many of you may not even be aware that you have a rectus abdominus separation!
Try this test:
- Lay flat on your back with knees bent and perform an abdominal crunch.
- Hold your crunch position and put your fingers in line with your belly button and span down the midline of your lower abdominal wall.
Do you feel a separation?
Whether you have an abdominal separation, weak abdominals, or low back pain, contact my office at 847.742.5766 to see how Core Stabilization can help you.
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Available at the French Medical Group
