The stitch: What is it and how can you prevent it?
Researchers from New Zealand have provided an insight into what causes
the stitch and how you can prevent it.
Stitch
Despite what you might have been told, scientists aren't really
sure what causes the stitch. During exercise, blood is shunted away from
the diaphragm (one of the muscles involved in breathing) to the limbs.
According to conventional wisdom, the pain is caused by a reduction in
blood supply to the diaphragm.
However, two researchers from the University of Otago had a different
idea. Brian Plunkett and Will Hopkins tested a theory first put forward
in the early 1940's. They proposed that the stitch is actually caused
by the gut "tugging" on the ligaments connecting it to the diaphragm.
Plunkett and Hopkins gave their subjects a number of different fluids
that digested at different speeds. According to the ligament theory, the
pain of the stitch should remain high with fluids that digest slowly.
Fluids digesting quickly should reduce the weight of the gut - easing
the pain of the stitch.
The results tended to support the theory. Fluids digesting slowly led
to an increase in stitch intensity that was more than double that of the
fast digesting drinks.
Plunkett and Hopkins also tested several strategies designed to relieve
the stitch. There were three that proved most effective.
• Wait 2-3 hours before exercising after a large (1 liter or more)
drink or meal.
• When you get a stitch, bend forward and tighten your abdominal
muscles, while breathing out through pursed lips. The lower position
of the diaphragm and increased contraction of the abdominals are designed
to reduce tension on the ligaments.
• Try wearing a light wide belt around your waist. This is designed
to move your abdominal contents upward and inward — reducing tension
on ligaments between gut and diaphragm.
Reference
Plunkett, B.T., & Hopkins, W.G. (1999). Investigation of
the side pain "stitch" induced by running after fluid
ingestion. Medicine
and Science in Sports and Exercise, 31, 1169-1175
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