An accomplished runner once told me that breathing out on your left foot stops a stitch, not had one for a bit cause i breath out on my left but the other week i found myself with a stitch, i then found i was exhaling on my right so switched to left and it went away,am i imagining it or is there a science behind this.

dunno, ill give it a try tho.

Don't often get a stitch,but often asked how to stop them by younger runners.This is one to add to the answers.

I suffer with stiches, some are bearable and others are down right excrutiating.

I have tried stamping my foot down on the side that is causing me pain whilst running, (this looks stupid) running with my arms in the air, puffing out hard, all of which don't really seem to have worked, would like to add not all at the same time.

I will however, try the one you have mentioned and let you know. Probably won't be long before I will test it out .

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

The classic advice of how to get rid of a stitch in the early stages is to breathe out on when your foot on the opposite side to the stitch hits the ground. I always seem to get a stitch on the right side, when I do get them, so breathing out when the left foot hits the ground is what I do.

It works for me but I only suffer from mild stitches occasionally. I am usually not running fast enough to get stitches.

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It works for me but I only suffer from mild stitches occasionally. I am usually not running fast enough to get stitches.[/quote]

Pace doesn't seem to make a difference with me, I could be out on a nice gentle run and I get a stitch or when I am doing speed work, they make no sence at all, I have even taken note of what I have eaten etc or not eaten in some cases.

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

I suffer with stitches quite a lot really , i dont know if pace has anything to do with it, but if im running hard i seem to get them more often.
I will bare in mind this breathing out when left foot touches the floor.
The only thing that i do is run the stitch off, which works but can be uncomfortable, or i will start to breath deep in through my nose then out through my mouth for a bit and this has proven to help sometimes.

Stitches are a big fat anomaly...

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A loser is not the one who runs last in the race. It's the one who sits and watches and who has never tried to run.
Bird in Boots Oh what have I done FLM09

I always thought stitches were something to do with salts building up in the kidneys. I've not had one since doing 2ltr of water a day minimum without fail. But if I miss a day or just do half it takes me 2-3 days to get fully hydrated again.