Check Your Belly before You Wreck Your Belly Campaign!

The Tummy Team is excited to announce the....

                                          

 

Awareness Campaign!

"When your belly gets worse or won't go away with exercise, it may not be fat.  It may be your organs sticking out," said Julie Tupler, RN, the creator of the Tupler Technique® and President of Tupler Inc.  "Checking your belly for a diastasis before starting your New Year's fitness resolution may be one of the smartest things you can do for yourself because it may help stop you from wrecking your belly.  At our press briefing on Monday, we will show you how to check your belly for a diastasis.  If you know you have a diastasis, then there are certain exercises to avoid because these exercises may make the belly even bigger.  When the abdominal muscles separate the connective tissue stretches sideways and becomes weaker.  When you do planks and crunches, you are creating intra-abdominal pressure that pushes against the connective tissue.  This force makes the separation larger.  Trauma to this abdominal connective tissue can tear it away from the muscle and cause a ventral hernia."

As part of this campaign,

The Tummy Team will be conducting

FREE BELLY CHECKS

on the following dates:

1. Saturday, December 10 at 12noon-3pm

2. Friday, January 6, 2012 at 2pm-6pm

WHERE: Sante' Mama Wellness Center, 

113 NE 92nd Ave, Vancouver WA 98664

360-253-2229

We would love to help you see how truly strengthening your core from the inside out will flatten your tummy, relieve back pain, improve your intestinal function and pelvic floor strength.  Come see us for a free diastasis check and the opportunity to learn how The Tummy Team can help you and others you love.

Kelly.

A letter from a recent client!- this is why I do what I do:)

(This client came to me after hearing about the Diastasis Rehab workshops I teach from a friend. She had terrible pain in her back and down her legs when we began.  She was dramatically limited in her mobility and life and pretty depressed about it.  On our first session she measured 42 inches at the belly button and had a mild diastasis but more seriously she had no activitation of her core muscles.  Here is her letter after 6 weeks on the program.)

Dear Kelly, 
I just wanted to tell you that I think you are a genius!  You and Julie Tupler are my new personal heroes!  Thank you so much for being willing to teach others what you have learned about fixing your core.  I really got a lot out of your program, as you can see from the photos. I went from a 42 inch belly to a 36 inch belly.  I am like a real girl again instead of a pregnant looking one with my own organs deformed who cannot fit into any clothing!  Not to mention that I can move again!  Without pain!  I've started doing yoga and it feels like all these big crusty chunks of debris are falling of my whole body and my real body is being exposed for the first time in years.  The other day, I even picked up a 2 by 4 and chased after a coyote who had taken one of my chickens.  I chased him clear across 4 acres!!! before I realized.... I was running!!!  I think it was the first time I had ran since I got pregnant.  Not being physically capable of doing things like defending my animals has made me feel very much not-like-myself.  


Thank you so much for teaching me how to find my center again and how to strengthen it so I could be me.  I felt like I was in a prison.  Now, I am clothes shopping and the coyotes are scared! :)  I just bough a shirt that was a medium, (gasp!).  Can you believe that??!!  And it looked HOT!  This has made a huge impact on my life.  Thank you so much. 

Your program was very easy to understand and your kind guidance was just what I needed.  You were very there-for-me with any questions I had and that got me through the hard parts.  Keep doin' whatchur doin'- you are good at it!  Thank you again- I really cannot thank you enough.-- Julie Dawson.
(pictures were mailed so not available digitally at this time).

I am blessed to receive notes, emails and letters like this on a weekly basis.  It truly reminds me of how important this work is.  I long to help everyone who is struggling with this get the healing that is available.  Check out the many stories and before and after pictures at www.thetummyteam.com 

Faithfully, Kelly

Surgery?

It is very confusing when you are told that your flabby tummy is actually an umbilical hernia and you must surgically repair it if you have any hope of getting your tummy back in shape.  Umbilical hernia's do happen but a hernia by definition means a tear in the connective tissue.  A tear is usually painful and definitely allows parts of your intestines to poke through.  It also makes your belly button push out in a weird fashion.  To definitively diagnose a hernia like this you need to have a CAT scan or MRI.  Often these tests cost several thousand dollars and are not always performed prior to surgery is recommended.

Unfortunately, many umbilical hernias are misdiagnosed diastasis recti.  With a diastasis, the connective tissue between your abdominals is stretched so thin that it provides no support for your organs or your belly button. Surgery in that case turns into a patch job, applying mesh and sewing muscles together.  Neither actually heal the stretched out tissue or rehabilitate the deflated core muscles that has resulted. 

In addition, to the cost, extreme measures and long recovery, the patient is often told they can return to all their previous activities after they heal, including crunches, running and any form of exercise.  This is so sad.  I have personally worked with 4 ladies this year alone who had surgery and the stitches did not hold and they slowly started to see their abdominal wall separate again.

So, get all the information.  There is a lot of information at www.thetummyteam.com about your options.  Most clients see a difference in the first few days and we have saved hundreds of ladies from surgery.  If nothing else, it will prepare your abdominals for a better recovery if you and your doctor still feel surgery is required.  It is a minimal risk, as the program is very inexpensive (especially when compared to surgery) and the program has a huge success rate. 

Why do we not know more about Diastasis Recti?

This is a question that I get a lot!  How can this medical condition be so prominent in women, men and children and most people have never heard of it?  How can 98% of women who have had babies have some form of diastasis but it is never diagnosed? 

I am a Physical Therapist and I was a high level athlete most of my youth into my twenties and I have great body awareness and I had no idea that this was what was causing my post baby belly and contributing to my back pain, stress incontinence and pelvic instability.  People who know much less about the body are even less likely to figure it out.  Why?

Well, I believe the number one reason that we don't know much about this condition is that until recently there has not been a great solution for the problem.  Sadly, if medical professionals do not have cure, whether it is medication, surgery or some other treatment they tend to not look for the condition. Yes, diastasis recti can be treated by traditional Physical Therapy and there are plastic surgeons who will sew the tummy back together or put mesh in the separation and do a tummy tuck, but neither of these solutions have been ideal.

 Diastasis recti is a condition that has not been effectively healed with traditional Physical Therapy.  I do not say this to be challenging, I say it because it is true.  While there may be a few PT's out there that have effectively helped their clients heal- it is rare.  We learn little about this condition in school and little about rehabilitation to the abdominal wall.  PT's are awesome at treating low back pain, SI and Pelvis Instability and Pelvic Floor dysfunction but most PT's do not even check their clients with these symptoms for a diastasis.  When they do find a diastasis, they tend to do core stabilization treatments which are often done in back-lying or all 4's positions- both of which make it very difficult for the transverse to activate effectively to help close a the separated abdominal wall.  The healing and rehabilitation process is slow and monotonous and that is difficult to do in a traditional PT session setting. 

Plastic surgery is not the answer either.  First of all, it is not covered by your insurance most of the time, even when you are having serious pain and medical complications.  Second of all, if you simply stitch muscle tissue together or insert mesh to hold the wall together and do nothing to change what caused the problem in the first place then it will slowly separate again.  I have had 5 women in the past year in my workshops who had mesh inserted or plastic surgery to repair their tummy and then came to me months or years later.  All of them had a separated their abdominal wall again.  Surgery is good for extra skin but it is not the answer to fix the core muscle problem.

So... if the doctor does not know how to help you then they are less likely to go looking for this condition. 

This is not the only reason Diastasis Recti is not diagnosed.  It is also not understood how much a separated abdominal wall can contribute to the very common complaints of back pain and pelvis instability.  It is not the only thing going on but it is a big piece of the puzzle that has been overlooked.

The good news is there is a NON SURGICAL, NON INVASIVE, INEXPENSIVE AND EFFECTIVE solution! The Tupler Technique is based on research and has helped thousands of women and men heal their diastasis. 

Do not be discouraged if your doctor, midwife or chiropractor does not diagnose your diastasis or does not know there is a cure.  We are working hard to change that .  But take charge of your own health.  If you think this might be something you are struggling with get more information at www.thetummyteam.com.  You do not have to continue to struggle, there is a solution.