Diastasis Recti Rehabilitation Workbook: Rebuilding Your Core Step by Step

Understanding diastasis recti is useful; knowing exactly what to do each week to support its healing is what most postpartum parents actually need. The challenge is that generic core programs — sit-ups, planks, crunches — are exactly the exercises most likely to delay healing or make symptoms worse, yet many fitness resources do not draw this distinction. This workbook provides a coherent, progressive approach built around the specific mechanics of linea alba rehabilitation. By the end of this course you will be able to apply a four-phase core rehabilitation progression appropriate for diastasis recti, use a body mechanics checklist to modify daily activities that create problematic intra-abdominal pressure, and monitor your own progress using structured self-assessment tools at each phase transition. What you will learn: - A self-screening worksheet to document your starting point: gap location, approximate width, and tension quality - Phase one: breath-first training — how diaphragmatic breathing coordinates with the transverse abdominis and pelvic floor - Phase two: foundational activation exercises that load the linea alba without excessive pressure - Phase three: progressive functional movement — how to reintroduce compound movements as tension capacity improves - Phase four: return to higher-load activity, with decision criteria for each transition - Body mechanics for daily activities: lifting your baby, getting out of bed, carrying loads — with a modifiable checklist - How to track gap width and tension over weeks and interpret what changes in self-assessment mean - Warning signs that indicate the need for in-person physiotherapy assessment rather than continued self-directed work Each phase is presented as a module with exercise descriptions, illustrated technique notes, and a weekly tracking sheet. Worked examples follow two different parents through the same progression from different starting points, making the program adaptable. The final module addresses return to exercise more broadly — running, strength training, yoga — with evidence-based guidance on timing. This course is designed for postpartum parents who have been assessed for diastasis recti and want a structured self-directed rehabilitation path. It is suitable for people new to targeted core rehabilitation. It does not replace individualized assessment and treatment by a qualified physiotherapist, and the content is educational rather than clinical.