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Location
Pain
in the side of the diaphragm.
How
it affects your running
Running downhill
increases the forces exerted on the entire body with each
foot strike and may induce side stitches, especially if you
are nervous (for whatever reason) about running downhill to
begin with! Try walking or slowly jogging down any steep hills
until you have mastered deep breathing techniques.
If you tend to suffer from
side stitches, try to avoid eating within 1 hour of running.
Water or gatorade is fine within an hour -- liquid empties
from the stomach faster than solids and shouldn't cause any
problems.
Running in extreme cold temperatures
may induce side stitches, as it's less comfortable to take
in deep lungs full of frigid air until you're thoroughly warmed
up. Try doing some sort of warm up indoors first, before hitting
the icy city streets.
Causes
of Side Stitches
A "side
stitch" is a sharp, intense pain under the lower edge
of the ribcage caused by a muscle spasm of the diaphragm.
Such pain can occur during vigorous exercise, such as running,
and seems to occur more commonly in novice exercisers who
have not yet established proper pacing and who tend to breathe
more quickly and shallow. However, about 30% of all runners
will experience stitches at some point. What exactly causes
them? On inhalation, we take air into the lungs, pressing
the diaphragm downward. When we exhale, the diaphragm moves
up. If the body has some trapped air/gas below the diaphragm,
if we've eaten too close to exercise, or if we start exercising
too vigorously, the diaphragm may cramp, causing pain under
the rib cage on the right side.
Treatment
of Side Stitches
As with any muscle
cramp, the best immediate treatment is to try to stretch the
cramping muscle as much as possible. How do you get to the
diaphragm on the inside of your body?, Try altering your breathing
pattern. Take a deep breath in as quickly as you can, to force
the diaphragm down. Hold the breath for a couple of seconds
and then forcibly exhale through pursed lips to restrict the
outward air flow. You may also find that bending forward can
help you expel as much air as possible. I have actually found
that stretching up as tall as I could, even to the point of
extending arms up over head, then alternating crouch-tall
and tightening/flexing the abs, helped as well.
You may even
have to stop and walk briskly for a few seconds while concentrating
on deep breathing. Continue running after the stitch goes
away. If you get a cramp in the middle of a race, you might
want to try mixing up your rhythmic breathing/ striding pattern.
If you always exhale when your right foot strikes the ground,
try exhaling with the left foot strike. The organs attached
to the diaphragm on the left side of the body aren't quite
as big as those on the right side, hence there is less strain
on the diaphragm. Another technique that may work for some
is peaceful visualization--if you are feeling stressed from
the day or race, try imagining you are elsewhere, and take
deep calming breaths as you run.
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