Side Stitch

Side stitches are associated with vigorous physical activities such as walking fast, running, swimming, cycling, and aerobic exercise. The longer medical term—exercise-related transient abdominal pain—is both a definition and a description of the symptoms: a painful but temporary condition associated with exercise that affects the lower (right) side of the abdominal wall.

A study conducted by Morton and colleagues (2005) in Australia, and published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, showed that among 848 distance runners, 27% experienced side stitches and 46% felt pain on the right side. Side stitches ...