Why do you often get a stitch in the side? How to eliminate and prevent it?

Stiff stitch is a common condition that people often experience during exercise. For people who often experience stiff stitch, there are certain reasons for this condition. So, what is the reason for frequent stiff stitch?

What is the reason for frequent gas stitches?

1. Not doing a good job of warming up before running. During intense middle and long distance running, the heart is too inert to quickly adapt to the rapid muscle work, which causes dysfunction of certain abdominal organs and causes local pain.

2. Breathing without rhythm during running causes breathing disorder, disrupting the coordinated relationship between breathing and blood circulation, causing blood stasis and hypoxia in the liver, spleen, stomach and intestines, or spasm of small respiratory muscles, resulting in "stuck breath".

3. Long-term vibration of the gastrointestinal tract changes the normal peristaltic rhythm, causing the gas and food in the intestine to accumulate and stimulate the intestinal nerves, or excessive sweating and excessive discharge of salt in the body with sweat can cause gastrointestinal spasms.

4. Doing middle- and long-distance running immediately after a meal or drinking water will cause excessive stretching of the gastrointestinal mesentery, which will cause pain. Prevention: Slow down, adjust the breathing rhythm, and deepen the breathing. The breathing rhythm should be coordinated with the running rhythm. Generally, it is two steps to one inhale and two steps to one exhale. There are also two steps to two inhales, two steps to one exhale, or three steps to one breath. In each breathing cycle, it is necessary to focus on active exhalation, which will create a greater negative pressure in the lungs. That is, it will expel waste gas as much as possible, promote the effort of the inhalation process and increase the exhalation volume. When breathing, breathe through the nose and mouth at the same time. In middle- and long-distance running, you should not hold your breath at the start or sprint, and you should strengthen your breathing at the beginning of the race to avoid adding unnecessary oxygen debt at the beginning stage and causing fatigue to appear early.

Ways to eliminate and prevent side stitches include:

1. Change superficial shallow breathing to deeper breathing, inhale slowly and deeply, and exhale forcefully. This will allow you to inhale a large amount of air, meet the oxygen needs during exercise, relax the respiratory muscles, and eliminate pain.

2. Adjust your breathing rhythm and coordinate it with your running frequency, so that you can breathe in and out every two steps or every three steps.

3. If the pain still cannot be relieved by the above methods, you can take a deep breath and hold your breath, tap the painful areas on both sides of the chest or under the ribs, and then take a few deep breaths slowly. Repeating this several times can gradually relax the respiratory muscles and relieve the spasm.

4. Before strenuous activities, do warm-up exercises to allow the respiratory muscles to gradually adapt to faster-frequency contractions to avoid spasms.

5. When exercising in winter, try to breathe through your nose. If you breathe through your mouth, keep your mouth half open to allow cold air to enter your mouth through the gaps between your teeth to prevent excessive stimulation from the cold air.