- I'm sure at some point you'll have experienced a
side stitch in your triathlon career.
Now I've got some pretty nasty memories from
childhood right up until last year, when this happened.
Had the run, frustrating, I absolutely loved it,
I was flying the last few miles, but I just keep
getting a stitch, and I literally, I just had to like
hold my stomach, and try and like make the
pain worse in my fingernails than it was in my stitch.
Why do we get this annoying side pain, and
more importantly, how do we solve it and
prevent it returning in the future?
Well in this video, we're going to be finding out.
(upbeat, thumping bass)
What is a stitch, well in the medical
world it's often referred to as,
ETAP, but you've probably more likely heard the term used as
and apparently even a sticker.
Anyway, enough of the terminology, for
simplicity sake, in this video, I'm gonna
refer to this pain in your side as a stitch.
Okay, now we know what a stitch is, but what is it
that causes this performance-limiting pain?
There's so many theories out there, it could be
anything from eating and drinking too much,
doing too many sit-ups, riding a bike in a
poor position, or even having a lopsided running gait.
But one thing they do all have in common is the
diaphragm, and it's thought that a reduced
blood flow to the diaphragm can cause this pain.
Another theory could be the ligaments from the
internal organs that pull on your diaphragm, but more
importantly, we want to know how to prevent this pain, so
I think it's time we went and spoke to the experts.
I'm gonna start with nutrition, take it away Fiona.
- Hi, my name is Fiona Lathander, and
I'm the Sports Nutritionist at Team Bath.
So a stitch is an abdominal pain that many athletes get at
some point during their training or their competition.
Some athletes are able to run through it, and
other athletes are not able to, and it can
cause quite a bit of discomfort.
First of all, allow two or three hours between
eating and the start gun, and that will
allow the food to empty from your
stomach and prevent it from bouncing around.
Second of all, be well hydrated before the
start of the event, and during the event, if you
want to take in fluid and food, just take small,
frequent portions of those to prevent the stomach
expanding too much and potentially causing a stitch.
And the third one, avoiding highly concentrated drinks,
such as fruit juice and fizzy drinks,
because they may take longer to empty from the stomach.
- Well taking smaller meals is definitely a
good bit of advice, and something I'm gonna
experiment with, as well as how long before my
training I should eat, and the same goes with nutrition
actually during my training, I know I'm guilty of not
practising enough of my race day nutrition, when
it comes to training, and the same goes for the
drinks, and in KONA, I know I did take a couple of the
fizzy colas, and that's something that my
stomach's probably not used to.
So a lot more of practising for
race day prep in training I think.
Well that's hopefully nutrition covered and
sorted, but now we need to address the
musculoskeletal side, so I think it's time
we got some expert advice, here's Barry.
- My name's Barry Edwards, I'm a Senior Sports
Physiotherapist at the University of Bath.
One, if it comes on, squeeze your side, as this has
been shown to be a good preventative measure.
Secondly, if that's not working,
then slow down your running pace.
Control your breathing and see if that helps.
The final thing to do is to stop altogether.
Stretch, either by lifting your arm up over the head and
bending to one side, or bending forward and reaching to the
floor, touch your toes and see if that helps.
- Well thanks for those, Barry.
I have to admit, I've actually tried all of
them before, but next time if I get a stitch,
I'm gonna have another go at that stretching one.
There's still no denying that a stitch is one of the
most annoying pains, and it's so frustrating, as there's
no hard and fast rule as to why or when
you get one, but at least following some of these tips,
you should be able to reduce or
eliminate any symptoms in the future.
Now if you want some more videos from GTN, just click on the
globe to subscribe, and if you want to see more from that
vlog in KONA, well that's just here, and if you want some
ideas for key stretches, there's a video on that right here.