Running With Kidney Stones

The pain of kidney stones -- painful mineral deposits in the urinary system -- often can be enough to make you hang up your running shoes until the stone passes. However, you don't necessarily have to give up exercise until you're feeling better. In fact, regular exercise such as running can help prevent kidney stones in the first place, according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. If you want to keep up with your workouts, you should know how to control the pain of having kidney stones.

Check with your doctor to see if you should scale back your running workouts until the kidney stone passes. While you likely will be able to exercise, your doctor may recommend limitations.

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Drink plenty of fluids throughout the day to help encourage the stone to pass. People prone to kidney stones should drink at least 2 liters of water daily according to the National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse. If you run regularly, you will need to increase this intake to account for fluid loss from sweating during your workouts.

Take pain medications prescribed or recommended by your doctor prior to going on your run. Even if you are not experiencing too much pain from the stone, you should consider taking a dose before your workout because the exercise could cause the stone to move -- flaring up the pain caused by the condition.

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Run as you normally would provided the pain is not too severe. It can take weeks for a kidney stone to pass, although most take only a few days after symptoms develop, according to the University of Maryland Medical Center. During this time, you may experience periods of relatively little or no pain, so keeping up with your regular workouts are easy. However, the pain may be severe at some points, making running difficult.

Tips

If you are prone to kidney stones, knowing what type of stones you form can help you make dietary modifications to prevent them in the future, notes the National Kidney and Urologic Disease Information Clearinghouse.

Always take water on your run.

Warnings

Carry your cell phone in case you dislodge a kidney stone while running and need help.