TENDENCY OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN ONE YEAR POST-PARTUM FEMALES WITH OR WITHOUT DIASTASIS RECTI

OBJECTIVES: Primary objective was to determine whether women with or without diastasis recti likely engage in physical activity and secondary objective was to evaluate association between lack of activity and severity of DRA. METHODOLGY: The study in question was conducted as a comparative cross-sectional study, conducted in a duration of four months. Study setting was out patient department of HH-CPRP and China Health Center Mansehra. One-year post-partum women with age 18-45 years were included through non-probability convenient sampling. Females were approach for eligibility criteria. Written informed consent were taken. Those who met the criteria were asked to fill International physical activity questionnaire ( IPAQ) followed by DRA screening was performed by a certified physiotherapist. Data analysis was conducted using IBM SPSS version 22. For correlation, chi square was applied. RESULTS: A total of n=241 one-year post-partum females were included in study with a mean± SD age of 31.37 ± 5.129 years.  Statistical analysis reported that 79.2 % females with DRA were involved in physical activity while 98.7 % females without DRA were involved in physical activity. Association was significant at value ≤ 0.001 with positive but weak correlation. Linear trend line showed that females who were less likely to be engaged in PA were more likely to be affected by DRA. Statistical Analysis showed moderate association between DRA severities and Level of PA; significant at ≤ 0.001. CONCLUSION: The study concluded that maintaining an active lifestyle can decrease the likelihood of postpartum complications. The study specifically noted a lower incidence of diastasis recti among women who were more physically active in their daily routines. Conversely, those who were less active in their daily chores were found to have a higher susceptibility to this condition.