are side stitches for real? and why? form?

scedastic

scedastic

Barefooters
Oct 7, 2011
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#1
My kids complain about them A LOT; sometimes I believe them, sometimes I don't (how could you get a side stitch after 15 seconds of movement??? and I see them run all over the place and never complain, but the second it's time to run with mom.....) but maybe I'm just mean............

Anyways, my one kid complains about them on nearly ever run, and I wonder if it's a form issue? Myself, I've never gotten more than one or two weird twinges in my side when I've started running, but this was years ago in cushy shoes and who knows what form.

Or is it just due to being out of shape in general?
A form/posture issue?

Who among us gets these, when, where and how do you relieve them?

Or what?

I've gotten my kids to run bf in the past, but with the cold they are running in their spanking new merrells and nb minimus kids (yeah, I sprang for them, but they wouldn't wear water shoes any more for lack of fashionability, ,etc.). My son sometimes runs in his soft stars, but seems to be able to keep a nice looking form for running no matter what is on his feet. My daughter, it's a toss up how her form is on a given day.\\\


Edited to show: Okay, so if I believe the new york times, and articles therein, posture is the culprit. Makes sense, since it's my daughter who has the worse posture and suffers far more from side stitches than my son. My next question is then how to get a child to have better posture????

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/01/health/01really.html?_r=0
 
#2
I feel it when running too soon after a real meal, but never while cycling at the same heart rate.
So for me it is related to food still being digested and something to do with the movement of my body while running, and not related to cardio activity too soon after eating.
 
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#3
I've had them (and still get them) occasionally. You'd think after running for over seven years, I'd be done with them.

Have her try to consciously exhale when her left foot comes down. It probably boils down to concentrating on form, but just thinking about exhaling on left foot strikes seems to help me.

One other thing that sometimes helps is to exhale all the air you can, then inhale a big breath. Then resume your normal breathing pattern after that.
 
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#4
I used to get stitches all the time and also have poor posture. What helps me is consciously swinging my arms back and forth rather than across my body and standing up straight, like there is an imaginary string at the top of my head lifting me up. Like Longboard, I also can't run within an hour of eating.
 
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#5
Side stitches once were a problem for me (in my shoddy days), but haven't had for sometime. They ARE the result of a form issue, specifically, the breath. As barefoot teaches us about running, I've had to re-learn the act of breathing. Side stitches result when the breath is artificially restricted and not deep enough. It's easy, when running, to simply fill the lungs with air, ignoring the abdomen and keeping the diaphragm artificially tight. While it's true that a firm core assists in the act of running, not allowing the diaphragm, and particularly the muscles just below the rib cage and along the sides of the abdomen, to expand and deflate properly, will cause them to sort of "seize up," and hence, the dreaded side stitch.

Deeper breathing, I have found, is the key to both preventing and relieving them. Along with the myriad other form points you consider when you run, a conscious effort to expand your breathing from your lungs down into your diaphragm and outwards from the sides really helps. As PB Junkie mentions, as complete an exhale as possible is vital. We tend to gulp at the air, rather than ingest it in long, slow "bites" and push the waste out during the exhale process.

Poor postural issues are implicated, certainly, but in my view, that is entirely related to and corrected by proper breathing. In other words, if your posture is poor, by definition your intake will be restricted and thus your exhalation will be shallow (just try to breath deeply when you're slumped over in a chair). The act of proper inhalation and exhalation makes poor posture almost impossible; of necessity, you have to sit or stand straighter the more deeply you breath, and the easier it then is to exhale. Play a game with your kids the next time they complain of side stitches: have them practice "breathing laterally." In other words, instead of expanding their chests when they breath, instead imagine breathing into and expanding the sides of their abdomens. Do that for a short time, then switch to expanding the front of the belly. After that, then do the whole thing: chest, belly, and sides, and focus on the complete exhale, even to the point of making a bit of noise as the air is expelled to make sure it's all out. The whole exercise can take maybe a quarter mile, but I'm willing to bet that those side stitches will become a thing of the past.
 
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#6
I also get them when running too soon after a meal. Specially when there were pasta with eggs and cheese. As this is one of my favorite meals, I also tend to eat too much of it, which means, my stomach is way too full to breathe correctly afterwards. :oops:
Here is what I do: I dig my fingers under the ribcage whilst bending over and breathing. This is supposed to relax the diaphragm. Sometimes it helps (but not always!).
 
#7
I don't know if this will work for your kids...

I get side stitches from always inhaling while striking with the left foot (or the right foot). The remedy for mine is pretty simple - I break the pattern by breathing on an odd number of foot strikes. If I get a stitch, I'll inhale 2 steps then exhale 3 steps. Gone in 1/4 mile!

It's worth a try the next time it happens to you, since, if this is your problem, it's such an easy fix!

I had problems with side stitches (not remedied by this method) when I was trying to get back into running after having my second child. It absolutely was posture-related - I had diastasis recti, which means my ab muscles separated down my middle and didn't reconnect properly.
 
#8
A doctor I know believes it has to do with liver function and liver glycogen.
 
#9
I only get mine on the left side.
 
#11
Sense, Silly, since any form of sharp discomfort in the abdominal area can qualify as a "stitch".
Probably dozens of different causes in the individuals experiencing this.
 
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#12
Side stitches are caused by gas.

Everyone has gas, whether they fart or not. All food that gets to the large intestine is digested by fermentation, which produces gas. Eating also results in the ingestion of gas, occasionally released by a hearty belch, but usually not noticed at all.

Unnoticed gas becomes noticed when you go out and run. Just like a bottle of soda looks crystal clear and gasless sitting still with the cap on, but shake it a couple of times, and suddenly it's full of bubbles. Running does the same thing with dissolved gas. If it's in the intestine, it typically ends up trapped at the top of the ascending or descending colon, bloating it and causing pain. That's why they're "side" stitches.
 
#13
I'll experiment by eating a meal of only non-fermentable protein and fat before a run. Won't help fuel the effort, but at least I'll confirm the post-eating run stitch gas connection.
 
#14
I get two different stitches. One of them is around the waist area and is from eating too much before I run. I avoid these by running before I eat a big meal. If I am going to run twice a day, I run once before breakfast and once before lunch. The other one is in the chest area and is from running too hard. I usually only get those during a race. I try to control my breathing better to make them go away.
 
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#18
I thought about this on my yesterday run.
I am a nose breather when I run and yesterday I was feeling a light side stitch coming and I thougth , what's going on? then I realized that I was breathing through my mouth due to a stuffy nose.
I cleared my nose and proceed to nose breath as my ussual and the stitch immediately disappear.
I thought that was weird.
 
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#19
#20
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