How soon you return to your prior level of exercise postpartum looks very different for everyone. But knowing when you’re ready to advance your exercises or need to regress is important to avoid new or worsening dysfunction. The postural changes and stretching of core muscles and fascia that occur during pregnancy can make reconnecting to our pelvic floor, core, and breath feel foreign and challenging. We need to relearn how to engage our deep core and manage our intra-abdominal pressure (pressure created in the core canister) with activities and progressive exercises. If your core isn’t strong enough to handle the pressure created during this time, you may notice your abdomen “doming” or “coning”.
What is Doming?
Implications for Progressing Exercises and Your Recovery
What is Coning?
Both doming and coning indicate poor pressure management strategies and muscle imbalance patterns. If you notice either of these patterns happening there is no need to avoid or fear exercising. However, it is an indicator of potential dysfunction and warrants a deeper dive into why it's happening and if it's potentially harmful to your recovery.
If you’re noticing doming or coning with low level activities, then progressing to harder exercises increases the risk of developing harmful compensatory strategies or exacerbating symptoms such as leaking, prolapse, or diastasis recti. However, there are many different factors to consider including (but not limited to) how often it occurs throughout the day, if you're able to correct it with deep core engagement, if it's accompanied by other symptoms and how early postpartum you are. So just because you may occasionally dome or cone, it doesn't necessarily mean it's harmful (remember no one-size fits all!). But again, it does indicate that we need to further investigate why it's happening, so if this resonates with you, reach out for a consult or book an appointment today!
Coning refers to pressure pushing out through the linea alba (connective tissue between your rectus abdominis muscle) when there is a diastasis recti. This occurs due to laxity in the tissue, poor pressure management, and muscle imbalance patterns in your core. It can be seen anywhere along the linea alba based on where the weakness is.
Doming occurs when your rectus abdominis muscle (the most superficial core layer known as the 6-pack) is dominant over the deeper layers (obliques and transverse abdominis muscles). It is also commonly referred to as “bread loafing” or “bulging”. You’ll notice your core pushing out instead of remaining flat or pulling in when you engage it for activities such as sitting up from the bed, or doing exercises like a crunch or plank. You may find doming in just one section of your core such as the lower, middle, or upper area, or along the entire length.
