Diagnosis and course
When diagnosing side stitches, one cannot actually make any mistakes. Side stings are not a disease, but still easy to identify. You do not need a doctor for the diagnosis, because often endurance sports are responsible for the pain in the side.
So if you do endurance sports, you can usually assume side stings if you feel pain in the flanks. Only if the pain does not stop after the sport should you go to a doctor directly to clarify the origin of the pain. The course of the side stitches is actually the same for all people.
At first the pain starts relatively slowly and then becomes stronger and crampy relatively quickly. This makes it more and more strenuous to continue walking and breathing deeply. If you continue to breathe deeply and do not reduce the pace, the pain can become even stronger.
Treatment and therapy
If you start a sportive load like an endurance run, you should not start full throttle directly, but increase the load for the body slowly and steadily. By slowly increasing the load, the body can get used to the demands and the blood can be better distributed. If you start directly with full power, the body can no longer keep up with the redistribution.
This increases the risk of getting side stings. The more enduring and trained an athlete is, the lower the risk of getting side stitches. The diaphragm is better trained and the body can redistribute the blood faster.
If side stitches do occur, it is recommended to reduce the load for a short time to allow the body to relax a bit and redistribute the blood optimally. A short break from walking until the pain subsides often helps quite well. If the pain has gone away a little bit, you can slowly increase the load again.
By breathing deeply, the abdominal muscles support the diaphragm and it is thus additionally stretched and can then relax again and release the cramp. You can also massage the painful area with your fingers until the pain slowly subsides. By pressing with the hand the cramped area is relaxed and the pain can be relieved.
In addition to tips and household remedies to fight the side stitches, alternative remedies can also help. A magnesium deficiency could be a reason for side stings, which can then be easily remedied by magnesium supplementation. Alternative healing methods such as herbal teas can also help to relieve the cramps and relax the body.
Also an overacidification of the body can be present, so that one can be examined by an alternative practitioner. In this case, the diet would have to be changed to restore the balance in the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) can also help to fight the side stitches.
TCM assumes that diseases and health problems are caused by a disturbance of the flow of life, the Qi. In TCM, the spleen ensures harmony in the body because it is located in the middle of the body.The spleen is also equated with the inner center. TCM wants to strengthen the inner center and achieve this through diet and physical activity.
