Hypopressive Abdominal Exercise in Postpartum Abdominal Diastasis (HipoDiastasi)

Universidad de Córdoba

Status: Completed

Conditions: Abdominal Diastasis

Treatments: Other: Hypopressive abdominal exercises

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04238156

HipoDiastasis4073-2018

Details and patient eligibility

About

The prevalence of abdominal diastasis is high in postpartum. The abdominal diastasis can impair the body posture, the of lumbo-pelvic stability and movement, or breathing. Exercises focused on the transversus abdominis muscle have been proposed as a therapeutic approach for abdominal diastasis.

Hypopressive abdominal exercises have been used for postpartum recovery, for specific pathologies related to pregnancy (low back pain, pelvic floor dysfunction ...) and even for the rehabilitation of spinal pathologies. However, there is a lack of studies that determine its effectiveness and clinical utility.

The aim of the study will be to analyze the effects of Hypopressive abdominal exercises on postpartum abdominal diastasis, the tone of the transverse abdominal muscle and the pelvic floor musculature.

A case series design will be applied, with weekly assessment of the outcomes after the intervention and two months after the intervention.

Enrollment: 15 patients

Sex: Female

Ages: 30 to 50 years old

Volunteers: No Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• primiparous or multiparous
• abdominal diastasis previously diagnosed
• commitment to perform, at least, 80% of the exercises
• signed informed consent

Exclusion criteria

• BMI > 40 Kg/m2
• pelvic floor disorders before childbirth
• drugs with effects on continence or functional properties of the pelvic floor muscles
• treatment for abdominal diastasis in the last 6 months
• systemic disease that impairs pelvic floor physiology and urination
• menopause
• contraindications to the practice of physical exercise and physical therapy

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: N/A

Interventional model: Single Group Assignment

Masking: None (Open label)

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15 participants in 1 patient group

Hypopressive abdominal exercises

Experimental group

Description:

Hypopressive abdominal exercises will be performed in basic postures (standing, sitting and supine position). In each posture, three slow cost-diaphragmatic respiration will be performed followed by an expiratory apnea and a rib cage opening, during 2 to 10 seconds, and an exhalation of 10 to 30 seconds. Each exercise will be repeated three times. There will be 3 stages of application throughout the 12 intervention sessions, supervised by a physical therapist: First stage: To explain the concept of hypopressive respiration and how to perform it. Second stage: To explain and apply the hypopressive abdominal exercises: 1. Axial auto-elongation (reducing curvatures in the sagittal plane); 2. Cervical auto-elongation (chin toward the neck); 3. Moving forward of gravity axis; 4. Activation of the shoulder girdle (shoulder joint decoaptation); 5. Slight knee flexion; 6. Dorsal ankle flexion. Third stage: To review and update all the exercises, increasing their intensity.

Treatment:

Other: Hypopressive abdominal exercises