Side Stich

Holly_Wood_888

Does anyone know the science behind a 'stitch' ? I've heard a lot of different info .
I get a stitch on my R side almost every time I run ! I've been upping my water and working on breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth because I am naturally a mouth breather and a previous smoker

shagerty777

I read an article that said it was caused by your diaphragm muscle cramping up. The short term fix was to land harder on you off side foot. So if your left side is stitching, come down hard on your right foot. Their long term solution was to keep running and you'll gradually get to where you don't get them anywhere. I tend to get them if I eat before I run so i don't eat and run.

MTDDS18

In my anatomy class my first year of dental school, our professor told us that it's your liver "bouncing" around, hence why a large majority of side stitches are on the right side. He said the solution to this is to coordinate your exhale with a right foot strike. Exhaling tenses up your abdominal muscles more, thus surrounding the liver when your right foot hits the ground.

How much of this is scientific and how much is just my professor talking? I don't know, but it conceptually makes sense

Holly_Wood_888

Thanks guys !

JodehFoster

I was always under the impression that it was having excess food/liquids in your stomach (just like a mom saying no swimming for 1/2 hour after eating). It has remedied it for myself by doing my cardio on an empty stomach, particularly no liquids, or very little.


Science? dunno...I could be wrong...probably am...meh

janejellyroll

Do you eat before running? If I eat within 1-2 hours of running, I virtually always get a side stitch.

Noelani1503

I was taught that the theories mostly point to the diaphragm as the cause. Irritation of the phrenic nerve due to a full stomach, liver portal hypertension resulting in transient hypoxia of the diaphragm, weaker core muscles allowing organ movement that could irritate the phrenic nerve, etc. Some people feel them in the right shoulder too due to the phrenic nerve pathway (same as gallbladder pain being felt sometimes in the right shoulder).

I've heard strengthening your whole core can help, and not exercising with a full stomach.

WickedPineapple

I tend to get them if I eat (or have coffee) within 2-3 hours or drink within an hour or so of running. I also don't drink anything while running because I'll get a stitch almost immediately.