Cramps While Running? Here's Your Quick Fix

The other day I was jogging with a client and we both experienced what runners call a “side stitch”. Also known as abdominal cramps, they are annoying, demotivating, and sometimes even painful. Side stitches and/or cramps occur not only for the occasional runner, but for veteran runners, as well. So, what are causing these cramps that hinder our ability to run efficiently?

Side stitches are caused by several different imbalances in our diet or breathing habits. Whereas cramps in our legs our mostly caused by dehydration, side stitches are very different. As runners, we need to have a healthy and balanced diet, but at some point, we could eat TOO much or consume TOO much water – putting us in ‘painful’ position. Considering the fact that 27% of runners are experiencing this debilitating locking-up of their muscles, we turn to veteran runners for hints on how to get rid of, or avoid, this situation.

The first cause of a side stitch is very hard to control. Research says that imbalances of sodium, potassium, and calcium can cause cramps. But the research does a poor job of defining the proper levels of these minerals. Not to mention, even if we had guidelines, they would be very strict and hard to follow. Now we evaluate the method we can control; lower lung breathing.

When running long distances, runners get in the habit of taking short breaths. Olympic-level runners have indicated that it is very common for amateur runners to take small breaths that do not use their lower lungs or stomach. Getting into a habit of taking deeper breaths is easier said than done. For starters, if we cannot get into the habit of lower-lung breathing (which is indicated by your stomach inflating and deflating – versus just your chest), then we need to make sure when we get a cramp, we take the time to STOP running and take these deep breaths. Lack of oxygen is causing these cramps and if we can get in some deep abdominal breaths, we can do a better job of getting oxygen to our abdominal area. 

Now we can revisit the nutrition aspect. Although a clean diet of healthy food and water can put our body in position to work optimally, too much food or too much water can fill our stomach so much that it will impede our lower lungs from getting those deep breaths we need. Having carbohydrates, protein, and water in our system is very important for having the energy to run. But if you are constantly experiencing cramps, you should limit the amount you are eating and drinking. Simply save the rest of the food you would normally consume for after your run. If our stomach is too full that we cannot take a deep breath, it is our fault – not the sidewalks.

Side stitches are aggravating and painful. Although we can do very few things to avoid them, science has shown that deep lower-lung breathing is the best remedy. Again, we have to limit how much food we consume beforehand, because it will just make it tougher for us to get those big breathes in. Cramps of this nature may not be completely avoidable, but there are measures that we need to be taking to limit the amount of cramps we are getting. Jog on my friends.

@fitnessphanatic