Can You Fix Diastasis Recti Without Surgery? Expert Leah Keller Explains

As I’ve shared before, training women to prepare for and recover from pregnancy is one of my greatest honors. I don’t exclusively work with mothers, but at this point I’ve trained more than 20 women who’ve gone on to have at least 30 healthy births. With each one, I learn more about how to support their bodies.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, “Diastasis recti (diastasis or rectus diastasis) is the separation of your rectus abdominis muscles. It’s a common condition that affects 6 in 10 women after childbirth. If you have it, your belly may appear to stick out just above or below your belly button, making you appear pregnant months or years after your last baby.” In addition to affecting physical appearance, it can understandably lead to performance, mobility and other health issues.

I’ve been aware of diastasis recti (DR) as a potential consequence of pregnancy since becoming prenatal certified more than 12 years ago. But over the past few months, it’s come up in conversation more and more with my pre- and postnatal clients. I credit that both to increased awareness of the condition and, perhaps even more excitingly, to a simple, nonsurgical, clinically validated method for correcting it. One of the leading experts in this field, Leah Keller, happens to live in San Francisco like me. When I first listened to this NPR story about her work and the results she’s achieved for women with DR, I was intrigued.

So I couldn’t resist reaching out to Leah to introduce myself. Fast forward through many emails, phone calls and even some shared clients, and I was thrilled to get an hour of her time to record this deep-dive conversation and demonstration. I feel incredibly fortunate to have Leah as a colleague in this space to help support my clients through every stage of pregnancy and postpartum recovery. I highly recommend that anyone who is pregnant, planning a pregnancy or recovering after childbirth watch this interview to learn how just a few minutes of simple exercises you can do anywhere may help reduce the risk of abdominal separation, strengthen the pelvic floor and help you feel and look healthy and strong.

Trying to list all of Leah’s qualifications and expertise here would make for the world’s longest blog post, so I highly encourage you to read her bio here (including links to media appearances and the research she’s collaborated on). And if you’d like to work with her one-on-one, either in person or virtually, you can contact her here.