Runners Nipple…

(This post is biased into my fellow male runners, women however won’t lose anything by reading it… I am sure you’ll never forget your bra at home)

As you start running everything seems to go smoothly and nothing hurts except for you legs after the run… but it’s not long until you start suffering from the most irritating injury you can imagine. After the 12Km mark runs (might be earlier of later depending or how sensitive your nipples are) you might start feeling a light tingle on your nipples (no, it’s not good!). After the run your nipples might be irritated, sore or even bleeding (not in a bleeding to death fashion but it is not a pretty sight nonetheless).

You can easily find information online regarding this condition and notice that you are not the only one suffering from it. Wikipedia which lists this injury as Jogger’s Nipple goes into further detail by describing:

“Jogger’s nipple” (more correctly known as a fissure of the nipple) is the name applied to a condition of soreness, dryness or irritation to, or bleeding of, one or both nipples during and/or following running or other physical exercise.

The cause is also listed:

Jogger’s nipple is caused by friction from the repeated rubbing of a t-shirt or other upper body clothing against the nipples during a prolonged period of exercise. The condition is suffered from mainly by runners. Long-distance runners are especially prone, because they are exposed to the friction on the nipple for the greatest period of time.

To prevent it they say,

For male joggers simply run shirtless whenever weather permits.

Sticking a small bandage or surgical tape over each nipple before the commencement of exercise, to act as a barrier between skin and cloth.

Applying petroleum jelly or other suitable lubricants to the area prior to exercise to prevent chafing.

Using specialized products available to prevent the condition such as rash guards.

I have to advise you to follow the second tip as it works the best in my opinion. Choose the bandages wisely as for long runs if they don’t stick perfectly you’ll suffer from it anyway as they will just fall down. The best ones are the water-proof, perforated bandages. For those manly, hairy bears out there… nothing like a little waxing or shaving around the nipple so you can make sure it sticks! 🙂

Here in our blog we go further into showing you how irritating it can be. It is definitely a pain that won’t stop you from running, but it will definitely stop you from thinking about something else. Oh yes, the nipples, those things you never really cared about and thought useless are here to haunt you while you are trying to do some exercise… Imagine one of those nasty gremlins from the movies a while back… Now, imagine two of them starting to run after you when you are trying to keep your pace. As a cautious runner, you don’t worry about them and you just focus back on the track and in keeping your pace just right. They catch up to you and jump… each of them grabs a bit or your nipple, but instead of letting go, the bastards keep chewing on your pure, untouched, virgin nipples at each step you take. Each time you move forward you feel these god damn creatures bouncing off your nipple and not letting go, having their thin, long, sharp teeth glued on to your skin… you can’t remove them, you can’t kill them, you have to keep running… and they will just keep chewing. As you might imagine… it’s not stopping that stops you, but you won’t think about anything else, I guarantee you!

Now, go get some bandages!

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~ by pmatos on October 4, 2008.