Running is a great exercise for improving your cardiovascular fitness and overall health. Sometimes a minor recurring ache or pain can make running uncomfortable and cause people to cut back or even quit. Getting a sore throat while running is one such inconvenience. Understanding some of the causes for throat pain while running, and taking steps to find a remedy, however, can keep you happy and healthy and going down the road for years to come.
Dry Throat
When your throat becomes dry it becomes sore. Breathing through your mouth, instead of your nose, while running can dry the throat. The nose is coated with mucus membranes to warm and moisten air before it passes into your throat. When you run, however, you're usually breathing through your open mouth. In temperate weather, this can cause a tickle or irritation from air passing directly through the throat to the lungs. In cold, dry weather, this immediately dries out the tissue in the throat and causes discomfort or pain. Other causes of dry throat from running include allergies and insufficient hydration.
Evironmental Factors
Your throat could become irritated from breathing hard in humid air or air filled with dust, pollen, mold or smoke, whether you suffer from allergies or not. Swelling from these factors, coupled with an increase in air flow over your vocal cords, can cause vocal cords to not open as they normally do. This condition, called exercise-induced vocal cord dysfunction, blocks the free flow of air into the lungs and irritates the throat. VCD can be diagnosed by a doctor performing a laryngoscopy, in which he inserts a tube with a tiny camera down your throat to observe how your vocal cords function.
Physical Causes
Exercising exacerbates a host of pre-existing physical conditions that can give a runner a sore throat. If you have allergies, sinusitis, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) or even if you're lactose intolerant, you're more at risk for experiencing a sore throat. The most serious condition associated with a sore throat while running is exercise-induced bronchospasm, which may affect up to 29 percent of athletes, reports the American Academy of Family Physicians. EIB is brought on when your lungs breathe out heat or water while exercising to such an extent that breathing is reduced. Symptoms, which include a sore throat, appear a few minutes after you start exercising and peak about 15 minutes into your workout. Other symptoms include coughing, tight chest, shortness of breath and even a stomachache.
Treatment and Prevention
To help avoid a sore throat when running, stay well hydrated and avoid lactose and milk products because they thicken mucus. If you have allergies or sinus problems, treat them with antihistamines or decongestants prior to hitting the road. Likewise, if you have GERD, take your medication in conjunction with your running to minimize a sore throat. In general, when running in cold or dry air, try and breathe as much as possible through your nose and minimize breathing only through your mouth. If you're gulping air or cannot hold a conversation, slow down until your breathing is more regulated. A doctor can provide an antihistamine or instruct you on relaxation techniques to open your vocal cords when running, if you're suffering from vocal cord dysfunction. A proper warmup and covering your mouth and nose with a cloth while running may alleviate the effects of exercise-induced bronchospasm.
References
- MedlinePlus; Sore Throat; David Zieve, MD, MHA, and Linda J. Vorvick, MD; Nov. 14, 2010
- MedHelp.org; Sore Throat After Exercising; Aug. 10, 2004
- American Academy of Family Physicians.com: Recognition and Management of Exercise-Induced Bronchospasm; Taru Sinha, M.D., and Alan K. David, M.D.; February 15, 2003
