One is built around a splint. One is built around $15 and your living room floor.
A fair, no-spin look at two very different ways to rebuild a postpartum core, and how to work out which one your body and your budget actually need.
Quick answer
The Tupler Technique is a nurse-created diastasis recti protocol built around three things: a specific abdominal contraction, avoiding movements that push the belly outward, and wearing a supportive splint for much of the day. Mumma Glow is a one-time digital guide, from $15, that teaches the same core principles of gentle deep-core rebuilding without any splint, subscription, or ongoing fee. Choose the Tupler Technique if you want a long, tightly-prescribed protocol with physical equipment and a structured support program. Choose Mumma Glow if you want the evidence-informed movement side on its own, at a fraction of the price, and you can follow a plan without hand-holding. Results vary from mum to mum.
What the Tupler Technique actually is
The Tupler Technique was developed by Julie Tupler, RN, a registered nurse who has worked in the diastasis recti space for decades. It is one of the older named protocols in this field, and that longevity is a genuine credential. Most postpartum programs you see advertised on Instagram did not exist ten years ago.
The method rests on a specific idea: that the weakened connective tissue along the midline, not just the muscles either side of it, is what needs to be rebuilt. Everything in the protocol follows from that. There is a seated abdominal contraction that isolates the deep abdominal wall, a strict list of movements to avoid because they push the belly forward, and the Diastasis Rehab Splint, which is worn to hold the abdominal wall in a narrower position while the tissue is being loaded.
The public programs include an online support program that runs across roughly eighteen weeks, plus variations aimed at pregnancy, pre and post surgical patients, and children. Julie Tupler also runs a free introductory class, which is a reasonable place to start if you want to hear the method described in her own words before spending anything.
What Mumma Glow actually is
Mumma Glow sells one-time digital postpartum recovery guides. Individual guides start at $15, and the full bundle covering core, pelvic floor, glutes and energy is $50. You pay once, you download it, and it is yours. There is no subscription, no app login, no splint to order, and nothing that renews.
The core guide teaches the same foundations most women's health physiotherapists start with: diaphragmatic breathing, deep core activation, learning to manage the pressure inside your abdomen so it stops pushing outward, and a progression of exercises that build over weeks rather than days. It is deliberately equipment-free, because the realistic window most new mums have is fifteen minutes on the bedroom floor during a nap, not a scheduled gym session.
What it is not: it is not a personalised assessment, it does not include a garment, and nobody checks your form. That is a real limitation and worth naming plainly.
Side by side
| Tupler Technique | Mumma Glow | |
|---|---|---|
| Created by | Julie Tupler, RN | Postpartum fitness team, evidence-informed |
| Format | Program bundles, splint, online support program | Digital guides, instant download |
| Payment | Program and equipment purchase, priced per bundle | One-time, from $15 (full bundle $50) |
| Equipment | Splint worn most of the day, plus tape | None |
| Typical length | Roughly 18 weeks of structured support | Self-paced, progressions laid out by week |
| Support included | Yes, via the support program | No live coaching |
| Best for | Mums who want a long, prescriptive protocol with physical support built in | Mums who want the movement work only, cheaply, with no ongoing cost |
Where the Tupler Technique genuinely wins
Three things stand out, and it would be dishonest not to say so.
First, it is clinician-created and internally consistent. Every piece of the protocol points at the same target. If you are the kind of person who does better with clear rules than with general principles, that structure is worth a lot.
Second, it takes connective tissue seriously. A lot of postpartum content treats diastasis recti as a muscle-strength problem when the tissue in the midline is doing much of the work. The emphasis is well placed.
Third, the splint is a real intervention rather than a cosmetic one. Some mums find that external support genuinely reduces the dragging, unsupported feeling in the early weeks and makes it easier to feel their deep core switch on. That subjective difference matters when you are trying to learn a movement you cannot see.
Where Mumma Glow makes more sense
Cost is the obvious one. A digital guide at $15 sits in a different category to a program bundled with physical equipment, and for a lot of mums the deciding factor is whether the thing gets bought at all.
The second is the splint itself, which cuts both ways. Professional opinion on abdominal support garments is genuinely divided. Most women's health physiotherapists treat external support as a short-term comfort aid rather than the main driver of healing, on the reasoning that connective tissue adapts to load, and a garment reduces load. That does not make splinting wrong. It does mean that if you are not sold on wearing something under your clothes for most of the day for months, you are not skipping the part that does the heavy lifting. Our longer look at whether postpartum belly wraps do anything goes into the evidence in more detail.
Third is the commitment shape. Eighteen weeks of structured protocol is a big ask in the fog of a newborn. A short daily practice you can start today and repeat during a nap has a lower failure rate simply because it survives a bad week.
60%
45.5%
32.6%
Source: Sperstad et al., British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016.
of women still had diastasis recti at six weeks postpartum in Sperstad et al., 2016.
still had it at twelve months, which is why "give it time" is only half an answer.
one-time starting price for a Mumma Glow guide, with no renewal.
What both approaches actually agree on
It is easy to frame this as a fight. It is not much of one. Strip away the branding and both methods say the same four things.
Breathe properly, because the diaphragm and the deep abdominal wall work as a unit. Stop doing the movements that make your belly bulge or cone outward, at least for now. Build slowly and consistently instead of chasing a fast result. And do not treat the visible gap as the only measure of progress, because how the tissue behaves under load matters more than how many fingers fit in it. If that last point is new to you, our piece on gap width versus gap depth is the place to start.
The disagreement is really about whether you should wear something while you do it, and how much you should pay for the instructions.
The honest verdict
If you have the budget, you like being told exactly what to do, and the idea of wearing a supportive garment for months does not put you off, the Tupler Technique is a legitimate, long-standing choice and we would not talk you out of it. If money is tight, you want to start tonight, or you would rather put your effort into the movement work than into equipment, a one-time guide gets you the same foundations for the price of a coffee run. Neither one replaces an assessment with a women's health physiotherapist if you have pain, leaking, or a bulge that worries you.
Who should pick which
Pick the Tupler Technique if: you want a named, clinician-authored protocol; you want structured support over several months; you have a large separation and want external support while you rebuild; you respond well to strict rules.
Pick Mumma Glow if: you want the deep-core rebuilding work without ongoing cost; you have fifteen minutes a day rather than an hour; you are already under the care of a physio and want home programming to complement it; you have tried and abandoned a subscription program before.
Pick neither yet if: you have not confirmed you actually have a separation. Plenty of mums assume they do and are dealing with something else entirely, which is why we wrote the companion piece on telling postpartum bloating apart from diastasis recti. Start with the at-home self-test before you buy anything from anyone.
The affordable, one-time option
The Core Reconnect Program is the deep-core rebuilding side of postpartum recovery on its own, as a one-time $15 download. No subscription, no app, no splint to order and wait for. Use code GLOW20 for 20% off. Results vary from mum to mum, and it is not a substitute for individual assessment.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Tupler Technique evidence-based?
It is evidence-informed and clinician-created, and the underlying principles, deep abdominal activation, avoiding outward bulging pressure, and progressive loading, are consistent with what women's health physiotherapy teaches. The specific question of how much the splint contributes is where opinion divides, and you should read the claims made about any single product carefully.
Do I have to wear a splint to close a diastasis?
No. Splinting is one approach, not a requirement. Many mums see change with movement-based rehabilitation alone. Some find a garment helpful for comfort in the early weeks. Both can be true, and neither guarantees an outcome.
Which one is cheaper?
A Mumma Glow guide is $15 one-time, or $50 for the full bundle. The Tupler Technique is sold as program bundles that include physical equipment, so it sits meaningfully higher. Check their site for current pricing, since it changes. If cost is your main question, we broke down the whole category in what it actually costs to fix diastasis recti.
Can I use both?
Some mums do use a support garment alongside a movement program. If you are considering that, it is worth raising with a women's health physiotherapist first, because the right answer depends on your separation, your symptoms, and how far postpartum you are.
How long before I see a difference?
Most structured programs run in the range of eight to eighteen weeks, and meaningful change in connective tissue is slow. Sperstad et al. found separation rates still falling between six and twelve months postpartum, which gives you a realistic sense of the timescale. Results vary from mum to mum.
Sources: Sperstad JB et al., "Diastasis recti abdominis during pregnancy and 12 months after childbirth", British Journal of Sports Medicine, 2016. Cleveland Clinic, "Diastasis Recti". American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), "Exercise After Pregnancy". NHS, "Your body after the birth". Program details as described publicly by Diastasis Rehab (Julie Tupler, RN).
This article is general education, not medical advice. Mumma Glow is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the Tupler Technique, Diastasis Rehab, or Julie Tupler, RN. Results vary from mum to mum. If you have pain, leaking, a visible bulge along your midline, or any concern about your recovery, please see your GP, midwife, or a women's health physiotherapist.