"I admit it. I have a mummy tummy also known as mommy pooch. You know that soft jelly belly you retain after having a baby  it makes you look a few months pregnant. Ive tried to convince myself that the pooch is a valiant badge of motherhood but who am I kidding The pooch bothers me. And it turns out it has been causing back pain. So when I hear that a fitness coach and doctor have come up with a technique that can flatten the pooch quickly and easily I think Why not A few weeks later Im rolling out a yoga mat with a dozen other moms and pregnant women in San Francisco. We will see a dramatic change says Leah Keller httpsleahkeller.com who leads the class. You can easily expect to see  inches off your waist in three weeks of time Keller says. Thats not an unrealistic expectation. Article continues after this message from our sponsor We had patients that were even one year out from giving birth and they still had such great benefit from the exercises. Dr. Geeta Sharma OBGYN WeillCornell Medical Center Decked out in purple yoga pants and leather cowboy boots Keller is a personal trainer from New York City. She has developed an exercise that allegedly shrinks the mommy pooch. There is science to back up the method she says. A doctor at Weill Cornell and I did a study on the exact same program were going to do Keller says. And we found  percent of women achieved full resolution. OK Wait a second. Two inches off my belly in three weeks That sounds too good to be true. I decide to do a little digging into the science of mummy tummy and Kellers claim. Putting the sixpack back together It turns out the jelly belly actually has a medical name diastasis recti httpsmedlineplus.govencyarticle.htm which refers to a separation of the abdominal muscles. And its quite common. Last year a study from Norway reported httpbjsm.bmj.comcontent about a third of moms end up with diastasis recti a year after giving birth. This is such a ubiquitous issue says Dr. Geeta Sharma httpsweillcornell.orggeetasharma an OBGYN at Weill Cornell Medical CenterNew York Presbyterian Hospital. And its not just a cosmetic problem. Diastasis recti can cause another problem for new moms lower back pain. People can start feeling some back pain because the core is weakened Sharma says. The Diastasis Recti During pregnancy the abdominal muscles responsible for a six pack stretch apart left to accommodate a growing fetus. After birth the muscles dont always bounce back leaving a gap known as the mommy pooch. Source Nick SousanisCourtesy of Sustainable Fitness Incorporated How To Test For Diastasis Recti Theres a simple way to see whether you have diastasis recti . Lie flat on your back with your knees bent. . Put your fingers right above your belly button and press down gently. . Then lift up your head about an inch while keeping your shoulders on the ground. . If you have diastasis recti you will feel a gap between the muscles that is wider than an inch. In rare occasions the tissue in the abdomen isnt just stretched but it is also torn a bit. This can cause a hernia Sharma says. If theres a defect in a layer of tissue called the linea alba then the bowel can poke through Sharma says. Thats going to be more dangerous. A hernia may require surgery. So I will refer patients to a general surgeon to have a CT scan if theres really a true concern about a hernia Sharma says. Diastasis recti arises during pregnancy because the growing fetus pushes the abdominal muscles apart  specifically the rectus abdominal muscles. These are the muscles that give you a six pack  says Dr. Linda Brubaker httpproviders.ucsd.edudetailslindabrubakerobstetrics__gynecologysan_diego an OBGYN at the University of California San Diego. People think these muscles go horizontal across the belly. But they actually go vertical from head to toe. The rectus abdominal muscles should be right next to each other on either side of the belly button Brubaker says. There shouldnt be much of gap between them. But during pregnancy a gap opens up between the muscles right around the belly button. Sometimes that gap closes on its own but other times it stays open. That leaves a spot in the belly where there is very little muscle to hold in your stomach and other organs a spot that can be  to  inches wide. That lets the organs and overlying tissue bulge out  and cause mommy pooch. To flatten the area women have to get those abdominal muscles to realign. And that is where the exercises come into play. If you search online for ways to fix diastasis recti youll turn up a deluge of exercise routines all claiming to help coax the abdominal muscles back together. But the quality of much of that information isnt good Brubaker says. Some of it is actually potentially harmful. Even some exercises aimed at strengthening the abdomen can exacerbate diastasis recti says Keller including simple crunches. You have to be very careful she says. For example please dont ever again in your life do crossover crunches http or bicycle crunches http They splay your abs apart in so many ways. That said there are a few exercise programs for diastasis recti that many doctors and physical therapists support. These include the Tupler Technique httpsdiastasisrehab.com Kellers Dia Method httpthediamethod.com and the MuTu System httpsmutusystem.comwhattheexpertssay in the U.K. Most such courses taught once a week for an hour in New York San Francisco and at least a few other places tend to run about four to  weeks and cost around  to . Some places offer online classes and videos which are much less expensive. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also recommends abdominal exercises for the perinatal period. But the organizations guidelines dont provide details  such as which exercises work best or how often women should do them and for how long. Plus ACOG focuses more on preventing diastasis than on fixing the problem it recommends strengthening the abdomen before and during pregnancy. .  Talia Herman for NPR  The best way is prevention says Dr. Raul Artal httpobgyn.slu.eduindex.phppageraulartalmd an OBGYN at St. Louis University who helped ACOG write its exercise guidelines for the perinatal period. The best way to do that is to exercise during pregnancy. But as Sharma the Cornell OBGYN points out no one has really vigorously studied these various exercises to see whether they actually fix diastasis recti. Theres a general knowledge that exercise is going to help Sharma says. But no one has really tested them in a standardized way. In fact the few studies that have been done havent been high enough quality to draw conclusions researchers in Australia said https a few years ago. Sharma hopes to change that. A few years ago she teamed up with Keller to start to gather some evidence on her technique. We did a pilot study to see if the method is helpful for women Sharma says. The study was small  just  women. But the results were quite promising. After  weeks of doing Kellers exercise   minutes a day  all the women had fixed their diastasis recti Sharma and Keller reported httpjournals.lww.comgreenjournalAbstractPostnatal_Exercise_Can_Reverse_Diastasis_Recti..aspx at ACOGs annual meeting few years ago. We had patients that were even one year out from giving birth and they still had such great benefit from the exercises Sharma says. We love to see that there is something we can do to help women. Talia Herman for NPR  Now Sharma says she is working to put together a larger study to really nail down when the exercise works and how well. Tight and tighter Back at the class in San Francisco Keller is taking us moms through the key exercise. Its surprisingly simple to do. The exercise is a very small very intense movement thats almost imperceptible Keller says. OK. Were going to do another set. Sitting on the floor crosslegged with our hands on our bellies we all take a big breath. Let the belly fully expand Keller says. And then as we exhale we suck in our belly muscles  as far back as theyll go toward the spine. Now were going to stay here near the spine. Hold this position she says. Then we take tiny breaths. With each exhale we push our stomachs back further and further. Tight tighter Keller chants rhythmically. You can do the exercise in several different positions Keller says sitting crossedlegged sitting on your knees standing with knees slightly bent on all fours or laying on your side in the fetal position. The key is to be sure your back is flat and that you do the exercise  minutes each day changing positions every two minutes or so. For the rest of the time your belly is pulled all the way back into the spine. The fingertips on the bellybutton are really important for this reason she says. So you know that youre squeezing tight tighter with the belly and youre never bulging the bellybutton forward. This is our fourth week of class and weve been doing this same exercise on our own every day for at least  minutes. So its judgment day. Time to see whether weve flattened our bellies and resolved the diastasis recti. Keller pulls out a measuring tape and starts wrapping it around womens middles. She also has us lie down on the floor so she can measure the separation in our abdominal muscles. One by one there is success after success. Several moms completely closed up their abdominal separations. Many lost inches from their bellies. One woman had amazing results. Oh my goodness you lost nearly four inches from your belly circumference Keller exclaims. Thats amazing How did I fare Well after three weeks I didnt completely close up the abdominal separation. My separation decreased from . inches to . inches. But I did drop more than an inch from my belly circumference. And I am quite happy with the results. My abs are definitely firmer. And regularly doing this exercise brought a bonus benefit My lower back pain has almost completely gone away.   I continued to do the exercises after the class had finished. I checked with in Keller three weeks later to have her measure my diastasis recti. At that point the separation had dropped down to . inches which meant technically I no longer have diastasis recti."