muscles (3 years) after c-section - funny sensations?

VoodooAborisha
VoodooAborisha Posts: 147 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I am writing to see if any one else has had funny sensations in their abdominal muscles the first time they got back into working out after c-sections.

My c-section was 3 years ago, all went great. But this past 2 months is the first time I've ever done serious strength training/resistance in my life, though I used to be really toned and fit when I was doing ballet when I was younger. I have seen my doctor, and there is nothing "wrong" with me or out of place.

What it feels like to me is that there are some muscles, maybe interior something or other, that I haven't used in the past 3 years of being sedentary, that I am actually really using for the first time now that I am doing crunches and weights etc. And my tummy feels tighter, and is getting smaller. There is no pain, and it just feels like something old getting the dust shaken off of it and being used for the first time in a long time.

Is that possible - anyone else had any experiences like that - where your muscles feel different working out after c-section, than they did before your c-section?

Just curious.

Replies

  • randomtai
    randomtai Posts: 9,003 Member
    I had 2 c-sections.. one 13 years ago and one 4 years ago. When I started working out my core, I did notice pain and weird sensations (for lack of a better description). I just pushed through them and hoped it was nothing serious. The pain usually went away in a few days and now I don't feel any pain when I do core work.
  • grrretel
    grrretel Posts: 4 Member
    I started doing pilates about 8 months after my c-section. First I had to check for diastis recti: http://www.befitmom.com/abdominal_separation.html That could be why it feels different to you now. The muscles have actually moved.
  • rowanwood
    rowanwood Posts: 509 Member
    My c-section was 2.5 years ago and yes, my lower abs feel a bit odd, but the sensation gets less pronounced as I'm working them. I hope it will go away eventually...I just wish I could hope for sensation in the skin again, but I think that's too much to hope for.
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
    I have any c sections with my 5 but since I got into strength training I have found my tummy muscles doing funny things! Sometimes it feels like theres a babys foot moving about under my ribs in there and its a weird sensation also quite often when I'm laying down and my partner has his hand on my tummy he asks if I'm tensing the muscles...which I'm not. I don't know if its just the pulsing abdominal aorta that he can feel or if it is my muscles but it is kinda weird that now I'm slim for the first time ever it feels like my heart is in my stomach.
  • OneThrone
    OneThrone Posts: 77 Member
    Agreed! My first birth was "natural" then afterwards I had 3 C-sections, 2001, 2003, and 2009. After my first, anytime I flexed my muscles or stretched I had a weird sensation. I kept thinking I was tearing something. My doctor explained that because my son was over 10lbs at birth I had a separation going right down the middle of my abdominal walls and they were healing as I was still using my muscles, although nothing to worry about. After my last c-section, I was pretty sedentary and gained all this weight and now that I've been working out on a regular basis I do feel abnormal sensations every now and then I even feel flutters because it's my muscles contracting on their own - almost like when your eye twitches except in my lower abdominals. I just ignore it. As long as the muscle contractions don't last too long or the pain isn't unbearable, I just chalk it up to me waking things up that I haven't in a long time.
  • Boogage
    Boogage Posts: 739 Member
    If you have abdominal separation there are certain exercises that you can do to try and bring them back together but there are also exercises that should be avoided so it might be worth googling
  • OneThrone
    OneThrone Posts: 77 Member
    My c-section was 2.5 years ago and yes, my lower abs feel a bit odd, but the sensation gets less pronounced as I'm working them. I hope it will go away eventually...I just wish I could hope for sensation in the skin again, but I think that's too much to hope for.

    Yes, this...To me not having feeling from about 1-2 inches below my navel is more annoying than any of the muscle stuff. I know that it something I will never get back. :-(

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