Can Exercise Worsen Gallbladder Pain?

Your gallbladder is a small organ located in the upper-right side of your abdomen that stores and releases bile, and helps digest fats in your body. When your gallbladder releases bile, it contracts and expels a small amount of bile through your bile ducts and into your small intestine to aid with digestion, according to Cleveland Clinic.

However, if you have an underlying gallbladder condition or if there’s a blockage in your bile ducts, you could have pain. While exercise can typically help prevent these problems, sometimes physical activity can worsen these symptoms. Here’s what can cause the pain and why it might hurt more during exercise.

Gallstones

Bile is a digestive waste product that consists of water, fat, cholesterol, protein, bile salts, and bilirubin, according to Mayo Clinic. An imbalance of these substances in the bile can cause it to crystallize and form into hardened deposits known as gallstones.

Gallstones are more likely to form if your gallbladder empties infrequently or if the bile contains too much cholesterol or bilirubin. When gallstones develop, your gallbladder might develop one large stone, hundreds of small stones, or a mix of large and small stones. If the gallstones remain in your gallbladder, they typically cause no symptoms. But when they block your bile ducts, they may cause pain.

Exercise may actually help prevent gallstones, research suggests. But if you have stones that are already causing pain, you might make it worse by doing strenuous exercise.

Gallbladder Attack

In some cases, gallstones can move out of the gallbladder and become lodged in a bile duct. When this happens, the normal flow of bile becomes obstructed, and the gallbladder can become inflamed and infected. When gallstones obstruct the flow of bile, a gallbladder attack occurs, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.

Symptoms of a gallbladder attack are often severe and intense. Although pain begins in the upper-right abdomen, it might spread to the right chest, side, shoulder blade, and back. The pain often becomes worse with any type of activity or even with deep breathing. So, if you’re having a gallbladder attack, you could make your symptoms worse by doing exercise. Attacks should only last a few hours. But if you have symptoms for longer than that, it’s important to reach out for medical help.

When to Call for Medical Help

Many people with gallstones may never know they have them, according to Cleveland Clinic. These are known as dormant or silent gallstones, because they’re in your gallbladder but they don’t cause any symptoms. Stones usually only lead to symptoms when they get stuck in or block your bile ducts.

So, if you don’t know you have gallstones because you’ve never had symptoms, you likely won’t expect to have a gallbladder attack. Getting this sudden, excruciating pain — during exercise or not — may likely alarm you. If this happens, it’s important to see your healthcare provider as soon as you can. While pain should only last a few hours, some cases may require more treatment if symptoms are severe.

Exercising With Gallstones

If you have gallstones, don’t be afraid to exercise. Getting regular physical activity is good for your gallbladder function and overall health. But if you’re concerned about your symptoms or you have new pain after working out, talk with your healthcare provider about how much exercise you need and which workouts are right for you.