The truth?
Doctors don’t have the faintest idea.
(sports chiropractor Brad) Muir says, is that there are so many different components of the problem, and not all of them apply to each case. Four people might come in with their pain on the right side, for example, and then the next three all have the problem on the left. Muir says that it’s rare to have no clear explanation for an abdominal pain. “It seems to be in a class almost of its own.”
Because we don’t know exactly what causes a side stitch, Muir says there’s no standard advice for how to prevent it. The best thing to start with, he says, is a quick rundown of your history: Did you drink a lot of water before that run where you had a particularly bad cramp? Is there something you usually eat on days you’ve had an issue? If you play a sport, he says, the next step might be to have someone check out your form, and make any biomechanical adjustments.
If you want more of why they’re in the dark, go to When you get a stitch in your side, what’s really going on? - Popular Science - Pocket
