Abdominal Muscle Strain Rehabilitation Exercises

You may do the first 2 exercises right away. You may do the other exercises when the pain is gone.

• Pelvic tilt: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Tighten your abdominal muscles and push your lower back into the floor. Hold this position for 5 seconds, then relax. Do 3 sets of 10.

  As the pelvic tilt becomes easier, you can progress to an exercise called the dead bug.

• Dead bug: Tighten your stomach muscles and press your lower back into the floor. Lift up one leg several inches off the floor, hold for 5 seconds, then lower it. Lift the other leg off the floor, hold for 5 seconds, then lower it. Alternate legs doing 5 repetitions with each leg and then relaxing your stomach muscles. Do 3 sets of 10.
• Partial curl: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Tighten your stomach muscles and flatten your back against the floor. Tuck your chin to your chest. With your hands stretched out in front of you, curl your upper body forward until your shoulders clear the floor. Hold this position for 3 seconds. Don't hold your breath. It helps to breathe out as you lift your shoulders up. Relax. Repeat 10 times. Build to 3 sets of 10. To challenge yourself, clasp your hands behind your head and keep your elbows out to the side.

  After you have become good at the partial curl you can do a diagonal curl to help strengthen your oblique abdominal muscles.

• Diagonal curl: Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the floor. Stretch your arms out in front of you or clasp your hands behind your neck to support your head. Tighten your stomach muscles and lift your head and shoulders off of the floor while rotating your trunk toward the right. Make sure you don't use your arms to lift your body off the floor. Hold this for 3 seconds. Return to the starting position. Then rotate toward your left side. Do this 10 times on each side. Do 3 sets of 10.
• Lower abdominal exercise: Lie on your back with your knees bent, and hold your feet just off the floor. Next, hold yourself in a pelvic tilt. Your knees should be pointed toward the ceiling. Lower your right foot until it barely touches the floor and then bring it back up to the starting position. Do the same with your left foot. Remember to hold the pelvic tilt while you lower each foot until it just touches the floor. Do 3 sets of 10 on each side.