The left side pain or that pain in your right side that makes it difficult to breathe when running as it feels like someone is stabbing you in your side.
Although it doesn’t help ease the pain, just know that side stitches are a very common problem among runners.
Though a side stitch is typically nothing more than an occasional nuisance, in some people, they can cause serious disruptions in training or racing if you do not know the tricks of how to prevent a side stitch.
Now:
If an injury or condition that’s detrimental to running performance is common enough, there’s likely to be at least a handful of scientific studies on it that can help us gain a better understanding of what’s going on.
Fortunately, this is the case for this diaphragm pain as well.
The Causes of Side Stitches and How This Helps You Prevent Them
What Causes a Stitch in my Side?
A side stitch classically manifests as an aching, stabbing, or sharp stomach pain, just below your ribs.
It’s usually only on one side, and occasionally will be accompanied by pain at the tip of your shoulder on the same side.
Avoid Side Stitch Trigger Foods
A few survey-based studies on runners and other athletes who develop side stitches in an athletic event have established that eating a large meal or drinking concentrated, sugary fluids like fruit juice close to the time of the competition will increase your risk of developing a stitch.
But interestingly, being older and training more often seem to confer a protective effect.
Beginner runners are also more likely to be susceptible to them, so if you are a newer runner, consider the foods you are eating as a starting point.
Could a diaphragmatic ischemia cause side stitches?
The actual cause of side stitches is still uncertain.
There are a few competing ideas, all of which have some evidence to support them.
Traditionally, it was though that ischemia, or a decrease in blood
This purported cause also explains why certain foods or fluids seem more prone to cause side stitches: more blood required by the stomach for digesting certain foods or liquids would pull away more blood from the diaphragm.
But several studies have provided evidence against this theory of “diaphragmatic ischemia.”
A 2006 study by two researchers at Avondale College in Australia measured the actual breathing patterns of athletes suffering from side stitches during exercise.
Twenty eight athletes were recruited, all of which had a history of developing side stitches during training.
Several respiratory variables associated with lung function and breathing were measured, then the athletes completed a treadmill run. Fourteen developed a side stitch, while the others were able to complete the test without pain.
After the test, the athletes all had their lung function measured again, and the researchers compared the function of the pain-free athletes to that of the ones suffering from a side stitch.
While the athletes with a side stitch showed a small decrease in lung power during exhalation, the authors concurred that the magnitude of this difference was not likely to affect performance.
Here’s the deal:
The fact that they detected no difference in inhalation strength—which is primarily governed by the diaphragm—implies that poor blood flow to the diaphragm was not a major causal factor.
If it were, the researchers would have expected to see some limitations in the strength or power of the blood-starved diaphragm.
And blood flow shouldn’t be disrupted significantly in high-impact but low-intensity sports like horseback riding, yet one study found that side stitches affect up to 62% of horse riders.
