Diaphragm spasms??

I'm dealing with the same thing. I still don't know how to fix it and its been annoying because for 3 races now I have been doing really well and then all of the sudden my right side develops a horrible sidestich that I can't run through and has caused me to DNF. it really sucks I thought it was just a water thing but now have been doing some research and i hear it happens on the right side because the liver rubs against the diaphragm and causes a spasm (or what we call a sidestitch). its quite horrible sometimes my friends think i just make it up or that i can at least try to run through it but its impossible.

I know the pain is different from a normal side stitch- it's like your being stabbed under your ribs. NOT FUN!

I actually feel a pain like that in between my lower ribs, also on the right side. I don't feel a knot like you do, but the right side of my chest will sometimes feel tight. Massaging the area will probably help.

Are you sure it is not costochondritis? I am dealing with this and it is driving me nuts. I have to get a back x-ray and evidently that can be a factor with it as well. My pain is just like yours, occasional sharp pains that become constant stabbing pains just below my ribcage whenever I run at a harder pace.

I'm not exactly sure what it is, all I know is what my PT said. I have never heard of costochondritis, what is that?

Is your back discomfort near your rhomboid muscle, because I get a lot of tension there on my right side as well- I thought they could be related. My rhomboid will get tight causing my right shoulder to dip a little- but I can usually pop it almost 100% back into place myself- just by cracking my upper back.

I had the same problem last cross season, under the right ribcage, sharp pains at faster paces (and even on average or slow training days, basically whenever I was running). I ended up going to numerous doctors over my school's fall break, a sports medicine doctor finally told me it was costochondritis, and I was prescribed 800mg Ibuprofen to handle it. It worked for the most part, but my training had suffered, when the pain finally went away it was back to business as usual. However, now into indoor season, it came back, so I'm back on medication for it. Hoping it clears up by conferences.

I experience the same pain during cross country only. I'm not sure if its the longer races or the outdoor weather. All i know is that if you take deep breaths and make sure you get all the air out of your lungs, and make sure you get the air deep into your diaphragm you usually are good

yea costochondritis scares me.....basically because i dont understand how one gets costochondritis. Anyway I have been dealing with it for 4 months now and is not one of those things where it just disappears after time. In reading your account of it though that sounds like what I have for sure now.

To not completely sabotage this OP's topic - have you had your back checked out? Also see a sports medicine guy if you haven't yet.

Yes, to the OP, definitely look into costochondritis as a possible explanation. The trainers here have told me that with both costochondritis or any intercostal strain, it's hard to give an outlook of recovery time/cross training because it's dealing with muscles used in the breathing process (i.e. even while sleeping, you're using them). Before I knew what it was, I just trained through it (3 1/2 month problem), and probably did more harm than this time around where I got back on medication right away. I'm interested though, in other peoples' experiences with the condition and how it compares.

I suffered with something that sounds like this for years and years, but now it just seems to have gone away. A very good physio did reckon they found some tissue that needed breaking down in the area. I tried to do this myself and it may have improved it a bit, as did generaly strengthing my stomach muscles through sit-ups and the like. In the end it did seem to got away as I got older and when I started running better, by which I mean when I was in my late twenties and started doing extra milage for marathons.

I've a feeling, though I've nothing concrete to back this up, that over time my style changed to a slightly shorter stride and this reduced side-to-side movement in my upper body. Certainly when I still had the problem, thinking about running with a relaxed upper body and a straight back seemed to help.

Not sure this is much use but good luck.

Well it's good to know that other runners have suffered with the same issue and I'm not crazy. I looked into costochondritis and it definitely has a lot of the same symptoms- but I also read that costochondritis usually occurs on the left side, but that was only on one site. I just hope it will just "go away" for all of us & soon!

I'm having this EXACT same issue. Right down to the shoulder popping and tight rhomboids. Diaphragm spasm once I up the intensity. What ever happened?

it's not your diaphragm, it's his vas deferens