how come i get a pain in my side everytime i run?

Question

Can someone tell me why i'm getting this pain in my side and how to prevent me from getting it?? It starts a few min. after i start running and it's pretty painful. i sometimes get it if i'm walking for a while to. I just found out that in school we have to do a mile run twice a year, and i don't want to get this pain while i'm running. it hurts really bad, i always streach before i run, what should i do????

Answer 1

It's just a cramp, and most people get them, especially if they are out of shape. If you only have to run now and then, and don't have an interest in getting in better shape, be sure not to eat for a while before you run, and have plenty of water available to sip (don't chug, just sip). When you finish running, don't bend over (which is what most people's first instinct is to do). Instead, stretch your arms over your head (you can rest them on the top of your head if you're tired), keep walking, and breath as deeply and slowly as you can until the pain goes away. Bending over makes the cramp worse, but stretching up allows your lungs to take in more air and stretches the area a bit, which helps a lot.

If you really want to stop them from happening, you'll have to get in better shape. Run more often, don't kill yourself but do push yourself, and you will slowly build up endurance. Before you know it, a mile will be nothing at all, and you'll almost never get cramps.

Good luck!

Answer 2

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how come i get a pain in my side everytime i run?
Can someone tell me why i'm getting this pain in my side and how to prevent me from getting it?? It starts a few min. after i start running and it's pretty painful. i sometimes get it if i'm walking for a while to. I just found out that in school we have to do a mile run twice a year,...

Answer 3

Try eating banannas, I think it a lack of potassium.

Also, drink plenty of water, and stretch properly before you do a run. And warm up yourself first by walking for a good minute or so (and keep your legs in motion, run in place if you have to wait for a stoplight for instance).

But the banannas should definitely solve your "pain in the side" problem. I had it in the army, and a drill sergeant told me that, and it worked, the pain went away.

Answer 4

it's not that uncommon. You are on the right track with having your meal spaced away from the run. Other things that help: focus on your breathing, in through the nose out through the mouth, try to keep a steady running/breathing pace, and make sure you warm up, don't shock your body by just running to a light warm up. hope it gets better!

Answer 5

It's a cramp.

It helps to stay hydrated during the day and when running to avoid them. Be sure to stretch properly before running and walk a few laps before and after to warm up and cool down too.

Answer 6

The 'pain' in your side probably reflects "referred visceral pain" from your gut. I'll describe what this means below.

You can think of your gut - stomach, small intestine and colon/large intestine - as a long muscular tube with a special lining on the inside. This tube has its own "nervous system" (the enteric nervous system) which includes pain fibers. These fibers primarily respond to two kinds of stimuli:

Excessive strecting of the tube (as happens with gas pains!)
Lack of oxygen.
In your case the lack of oxygen causes the pain. When you're running around your muscles have an increased demand for blood and the oxygen and nutrients it carries. More oxygen to these tissues can mean less going to your gut. If you have just eaten a full meal, your stomach and intestines really need the blood to give these tissues oxygen to make cellular energy for digestion, and to transport the nutrients you have eaten to the liver so they can be processed appropriately. If you start running around, you derpive them of what they need, and they let you know about it by sending pain signals!
Why does your side hurt instead of a site more related to the internal location of your stomach?

The pain fibers from your gut enter the spinal cord and travel to the brain. You may know that your "backbone" consists of many bones called vertebrae. Nerves from the spinal cord exit between two vertebrae. Furthermore, these nerves also supply sensation (touch, holt/cold, pain) and innervation (control over muscles) to specific regions of the body. It just so happens that the pain fibers coming from your stomach enter the spinal cord in the same areas as the fibers that detect pain over the left side of your abdomen. For reasons that we don't fully understand, the brain's perception of visceral pain can be referred to the location of the "peripheral" pain fibers that go to areas of skin supplied by nerves coming from the same region of the spinal cord. Weird huh?

You may also find it interesting to know that people suffering a heart attack often feel pain in places as far away as their arm or shoulder. The pain fibers of the heart enter the spinal cord at the same level as fibers supplying sensation to the arms, thus the "referred pain" to these areas.

Answer 7

It is cramps. Don't eat before you run, drink plenty of water throughout the day but not a lot right before yourun. Make sure you stretch and breathe correctly while exercising.

Answer 8

It's called stich. While I was playing soccer in highschool our coach would make us eat maybe a bannana or something healthy before we did our 3 mile run (everyday 6 days a week) and it helps.....but there are some people that when they eat something it hurts them more.

Answer 9

It is caused by your liver not being able to rid the body of impruities fast enough while the high demand of energy is required. If nothing wrong with it, should slowly go away when resting.

Answer 10

Cramps. Don't eat anything for about 2 hours before you run.