Umbilical hernia + diastasis

This is a difficult problem. Hernias that occur within a diastasis (separation) of the Rectus muscle have a higher recurrence rate. In my practice, in the right type of patient, I robotically repair these and do a diastasis repair to protect the repair and reduce the risk of hernia recurrence. It’s a much much bigger operation, which is why I don’t perform it routinely for every patient.

At this stage, exercises you are doing will help reduce the chance the hernia will get bigger, but won’t cure it.