What causes itching, pain or irritation in body and legs after walk, run or jogging

Well many people experience severe irritation, itching or pain in body specially legs when they start walk or running or jogging after a long period of time.

Our body gets used to inactivity. There are physical and psychological changes in it that make it hard for us to start activity like running or jogging after a long period of time.

Although the reaction of our body to exercise, after a long period of time, is usually non lethal. But still if you experience excessive reaction and any symptoms like breathing difficulty, stop exercising immediately and visit a doctor.

Causes of itching and pain in body and legs after jogging or running

There are many causes of itching and irritation in legs and rest of the body when we start running or jogging after a long period of time. The main causes of this include:

1.Histamine and mast cells cause itching

The vibrations, heat and other changes caused by the running and exercising destabilizes the mast cells and release histamine. This histamine causes itching and irritation in the legs when we run after a long gap and rest phase.

This is temporary and disappears with in few days (usually in 2 days or less), so keep going!

2. Response to vibration

The body is not used to the feeling and vibration caused by jogging and running, as the person started the exercise after a long rest.

The body takes the vibration and the feeling of jogging and running as something irritating. This initiates a response by releasing chemicals and stimulating nerve endings in the skin of legs and other parts of the body.

This response is interpreted as itching. This is different from regular itch as there is no external stimuli causing the itch. Thus scratching doesn’t help much in case of exercise induced itching.

3. Response to stretch

Another theory states that muscles are stretching and as body is not accustomed to this feeling, so it takes it as itch or pain. This is because when the body is not used to some feeling, it takes it as something foreign or unnatural, which in fact it is for the body too as you haven’t accustomed it to this type of feeling and jogging or exercise routine. So the stretch on the receptors inside the muscles and body send signals of something bad happening to them probably. Thus perceived as an irritating feeling probably.

4. Opening of pores due to exercise

When we exercise, a lot of changes occur in our body. Running causes various skin pores to open and various other physical changes to various tissues in legs including skin. These changes are required to get rid of heat, sweat, etc. from the legs.

As these pores are closed for long, their opening is perceived as an irritation, as per one theory.

5. Dehydration causes itching while running and exercising

Lack of hydration is one of the main reasons why we feel irritated and other weird feelings while exercising and even without it. Our body needs a lot of water during exercise, to pump the blood properly, to keep the muscles healthy and to flush out the toxins from the body.

Well taking water just before the jogging or running isn’t recommended either. However keep yourself hydrated throughout the day. Take at least 10 glass of water a day when you are exercising regularly to avoid dehydration.

6. Excessive salt intake

Ok don’t take me wrong here, salt is very much important and should be included in your diet when you’re exercising specially. However don’t overdose yourself. Keep yourself hydrated a lot to keep things normal if you’re taking quantity of high salts.

7. Long, hot baths

Long bath with hot water, makes your skin dry, causing more itch. Warm water dries up the skin, yes it does, leading to further irritation due to dryness. It also damages the nerve endings directly, resulting in irritation.

If you’re having excessive allergic reaction or itching during exercise, visit a doctor immediately to avoid any complication. Exercise induced urticaria or cholinergic urticaria is also associated with anaphylactic shock, which may lead to severe complications, including death. Therefore make sure that you stop running and exercising if you’re experiencing any severe itch or other symptoms like difficulty in breathing and visit a doctor immediately.

To see solution to how to solve this problem, see this page: https://offlineclinic.com/issues-of-starting-running-after-long-time/.