The effect of central weight reduction on postnatal rectus diastasis in obese women / Ismail Hussein Ismail Mohamed ; Supervised Amel Mohamed Yousef , Hanan Elsayed Elmekawy , Magdy Mohamed Abdelrahman

Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Physical Therapy for Gynecology and Obstetrics

The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of central weight reduction on postnatal rectus diastasis in obese women. Fifty multiparous women who had a diastasis recti more than 2.5cm and less than 4cm after two months of normal vaginal delivery. All of them had given birth two to three times, their ages ranged from 25-35 years, and their BMI ranged from 30.0 to 34.9 kg/m² and waist circumference was more than 88 cm. All participated women had no previous cesarean section, other abdominal and/or back operations, abdominal skin diseases, spinal disorders. They were selected from outpatient clinic of obstetric and gynecology, Elmatarya teaching hospital and divided randomly into two groups equal in numbers (A) and (B). Group (A); enrolled in ultrashape program by using bodyson machine for 20 minutes, and faradic stimulation for 30 minutes in addition to abdominal exercise program for 30 minutes three times per week for eight weeks and Group (B); received the same program as group (A) except ultrashape program. Rectus diastasis was assessed by ultrasound examination for all participants above umbilicus before and after treatment. The results of the study showed that the combination of ultrashape program, faradic stimulation and exercises characterized by a higher efficiency than faradic stimulation and exercises. It could be concluded that central weight reduction is an effective method for reducing rectus diastasis postnataly in obese women

Issued also as CD