The 'Stitch' Story: Epidemiology and Aetiology of Exercise Related Transient Abdominal Pain

Abstract

The 'stitch' is an unwelcomed abdominal pain experienced by numerous sportspeople. Yet despite being so well-known, the condition has historically been poorly understood. While many anecdotal reports of the pain have appeared in popular magazines, no empirical research of the condition was conducted for almost fifty years-from 1951 to 1999. In 'The Stitch Story', Dr Darren Morton documents his quest to understand the phenomenon by conducting large scale epidemiological studies through to evoking the pain in subjects within a laboratory in order to take measurements. The result is a series of investigations that have redefined the medical community's understanding of the pain. Of the ten papers relating to stitch that have been published in peer-reviewed journals over the past decade, nine have arisen from the work contained in 'The Stitch Story'. [from book back cover].