They will go away when her fitness gets better. It definitely has to do with breathing. Lung stress.

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Fortitudine Vincimus

They bother my wife alot. She have found two things that help.

1. She spits. Which is funny because she used to complain when I spit while running, until she discovered it helped her cramping.

2. She works on keeping her abdominal muscles tight while running.

I agree they should go away as the fitness increases, and she learns how to breathe properly, but these couple tricks may help her get to that point without quitting.

Until her fitness improves, have her try leaning slightly towards the stitch, and pushing her fingertips into the spot where it hurts.

Keeping hydrated is important. Someone told me once that when it happens, focus on another part of your body, like the elbow. Sounds goofy, but it seems to work. FWIW, I always run through stiches; they do subside.

Yup - keep plugging away is the key. With more fitness they will improve. Have her slow down though. Anyone can get them if they run long/fast enough past their current level of fitness. You rarely will get this on a long, slow aerobic run. They only happen when you cross your magic threshold (be it lactate, anaerobic, etc. - verbage varies). No harm in running through them as hard as you want if you can stand the pain.

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

If the stitch is on the right side, breathe out when the left foot hits the ground, if it's on the left, breathe out when the right foot hits the ground. Continue until the stitch goes away, this works for me.

I've found I only get them if I've eaten a decent sized meal within roughly an hour of running; I don't know if this is the case with her but if so it would be an easy fix. My high school cross country coach used to tell us to stop and do ab crunches if we had a side stitch during a workout, I never tried it but apparently it worked for some people.

I was taught to breathe in-in-out, from the start. That way your exhalation falls on a different foot each time Also, keep your torso still, keep your shoulders failrly still and keep your cadence high so you aren't pulling on the 'side' muscles so much with each stride. I may be totally wrong on this, but it works for me.

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Dick

Take everything I say with a grain of salt. I know nothing.

I remember reading somewhere that side stitches can be caused by weight in the stomach from too much food or fluids, and to try running on an emptier stomach to see if that helps. One of my friends insisted she had to eat before she ran, and always got side stitches. I can't eat before I run because I get nauseous if I do, but I've noticed I sometimes get stitches if I've had a lot to drink before I run. I think there's some truth to what I read.

I have found that pressing hard on the stitch really helps.

I get side stitches quite a bit and they are very frustrating. I don't believe they go away with improved fitness or else I truly suck! Did an IM this year but would still get them when I'd be doing a 3 mile recovery jog. For me, the issue of food & drink in the stomach is critical. It's hard for me to find the balance between taking in enough calories and overdoing it and getting a stitch. These are all the things I've heard about, and tried with varying success, these are more what to do once you get a stitch rather than prevention:

- Raise your hand(s) above your head and try to stretch out the area
- Push into the area and massage it
- Bend over and push the area together at the waist
- Change your breathing pattern. Most often you will find that you are breathing out on the opposite footfall to the side where the stitch is. So, try to forcefully exhale on the same foot as the side of the stitch. If this doesn't help, try the 3-3 pattern where you switch exhales left & right
- I've heard it can be caused by dehydration, which seems the opposite for me. But, I would suggest keeping up with fluids and taking them in small sips rather than getting behind and then taking in a lot of fluids at once (that's a recipe for a stitch)

In general I found trying to moderate my fluids, and calories and breathing on the 3-3 cycle to be the things that helped the most to prevent them. But God to they stink! They have ruined so many runs and races for me!!!

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Suffering on the the bike is always more fun than suffering on the run.

ride 'em is correct, more fitness will not necessarily eradicate stitches. I've had real problems with them; I found breathing/footfall patterns to help somewhat, along with making sure there is not too much in my stomach. However the need for nutrition makes the latter difficult in triathlons. The best information I have found is here: http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0705.htm The "parietal peritoneum" explanation seems good - however, apart from not eating or drinking much, it does not lead to a solution.