Skip to main content

The Splint God Help Me!

It has been since May 11th that I have abandoned wearing my splint. Yes I know, slap me on the wrist. After 10 weeks of all day every day (well 95%) I was completely fed up with it. 10 weeks is a good run, but the lack of support in approximating my recti is noticeable.

I purchased 2 items from the Ardyss line of body shaping garments, the Corset Golden and the T-Shirt Lite. They have been more feminine substitutions for the splint and provide support but only by compression; they do almost nothing to approximate the rectus abdominus. They are supportive, they encourage better posture (something the splint doesn't do), and they definintely flatten and shape; but the approximating design of the splint is more functional from a rehabilitative perspective. Remember what the SPLINT looks like?

All of my clients, myself and my team of trainers struggle with the splint. It does ride up- all day, every day. There is no questioning its effectiveness for what it is designed to do, but the thing becomes uncomfortable to wear! It stretches and I have found the velcro loses it's "adhesiveness" over time. Wearing this splint 12-18 hours/day certainly takes its toll on the fabric. I have washed it, ironed it and starched it, and that does seem to help maintain its shape. I have also put in on slightly damp after a wash and found it shaped well to my body when it dried that way.

Including myself there are 4 people on my roster who are experimenting with alternative supports- corsets, girdles, postnatal belly bands/compression wraps, as well as alternative diastasis rehab garments.  I recently met with Samantha from Core Expectations; we were discussing the splint challenges and the limitations of other body shaping garments for ab rehab. She asked me why I wasn't wearing the splint at least during my workouts, and honestly my answer was laziness. After my email correspondence with Julie Tupler yesterday I was inspired today to put the damn thing back on for my workout. After my shower I threw it back on again for a set of double splinted headlifts, so I'll keep it on for the day and attempt her challenge to see if my abdomen is less distended at the end of the day.

So that's where I am currently at with the splint 16 weeks into the ab rehab program.  I am optimistic I can recommit to the splint to make another big push in closing this diastasis for good! This will reinforce my diligence with my daily headlift sets as well. I will surely continue to use my body shaping garments as substitutions, but I will wear the splint daily even if only when working out.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I don’t have a Diastasis- Why is my abdomen still distended postpartum?

I get asked this question all the time! Here is my answer: Research has shown that 100% of pregnant women will develop some degree of diastasis recti. A diastasis is a lateral separation in the abdominal wall between the recti or “six pack”, due to a stretching of the midline connective tissue or “linea alba”. Although some diastasis will heal postpartum, in many cases a separation will remain without restorative exercise. Distention from DR will present as a doming in the midline. Women who heal a diastasis spontaneously or through restorative exercise may still find that their abdomens are distended, particularly after a meal and/or at the end of the day. If there is no diastasis, why is this? This abdominal distention does not occur in the midline, but rather across the entire abdominal wall. This is due to a weakened hypotonic TVA- transverse abdominis muscle. The TVA is the deepest anterior abdominal muscle, wrapping around the midsection like a girdle, with a left an

New Website & BodyRock TV Articles

I have been MIA building a website to launch for momentum into 2011. It is part of my "big push" master plan which, according to my wellness approach, applies to every area of my life- from workouts, nutrition, family, business.... I declare 2011 the Year of the Hard Body in every way! I just surfed onto my website dashboard to see that I have over 2000 webpage views, mostly referred from this blog and BodyRock TV ! Amazing! If you wouldn't mind taking a moment to complete my website feedback form when you are there I would greatly appreciate it! Further to, I have emailed with Zuzana from BodyRock about contribuing pre & postnatal information for adapting her workouts. I have written 2 articles "Prenatal BodyRocking" and "Postnatal BodyRocking" which I hope will appear on her website soon! I am gaining momentum heading into 2011! I have a modified raw food 7 day cleanse planned, as well as new fitness goals for myself. 2010 was the Year of t

Teaching!

I love teaching. It is one of my passions and I am working towards incorporating more of it into my professional repertoire. As a personal trainer I teach 1-on-1 all day every day. When I present to groups, I reach more people at the same time. Since 2006 I have been giving talks at the Running Room to clinics of all distances. I love educating runners about core, effective cross training, incontinence, and the importance of training smart. Knowing they all want to be uninjured and still running in 10 years, they are a captive audience and I am always very well received. My runners give me great feedback, they love my talks, and the instructors keep inviting me back. I think my genuine enthusiasm comes through, and is a tremendous strength of mine when teaching. In 2014 I designed a Trainer Trainer Workshop to educate other fitness professionals on Diastasis Recti, pelvic floor wellness, and safely training the pre and postnatal demographic. It's a 4 hour presentation that I