Why do thighs itch while running

The same holds true for dry skin. Try rubbing on lotion before a workout or changing up what you wear to see if that helps.

Look for workout gear made with moisture-wicking fabrics to minimize the amount of sweat that clings to your skin during your run.

If you can work through the discomfort, the itching should get better as you build up stamina. Some people who suffer intense itching have used numbing spray. You can recognize urticaria by whether the itching is accompanied by hives.

This is an allergic response that can be caused by sweating, being too hot or too cold, or exercising. Some research suggests that histamine is released during exercise to protect against fatigue, rather than as an allergic response.

If your legs itching while running is caused by that physiological adaptation, it should only last a few weeks, says Burns—which was pretty much the case for me. After that time, your body should get used to that increased pressure in your blood vessels. Plus, your body helps the process along with other adaptations, like with the remodeling of existing blood vessels and the formation of new capillaries, which helps relieve some of that congestion.

Exercise-induced urticaria usually comes on soon after your body temperature and heart rate start to rise during your workout and you begin to sweat, says Pien.

Along with the itchiness, you might also start to feel hot and notice the development of small hives. These hives can look like raised welts or like red splotches, blotches, or blisters, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. While they can occur anywhere, they usually tend to develop on your torso, says Pien.

Burns, who experienced exercise-induced hives sporadically as a teen and through college, would get them on his arms and upper body. So how can you tell if the itching is due to exercise-induced urticaria or just to your body simply adapting to running? The hives with exercise are a big clue, especially if you also develop hives in other situations, like in times of emotional stress or when eating spicy foods, says Pien.

Some people don't experience itch. They experience like prickling or burning instead of itch, but these sensory phenomena travel together.

Exercise-induced urticaria most commonly happens while running, but it can happen during any type of exercise. Celebrity fitness trainer Jeanette Jenkins, who founded the Hollywood Trainer Club, said a key way to increase circulation and avoid itchiness is to properly hydrate and warm up before workouts. Jenkins recommends hydrating with liquids that have electrolytes and fully warming up to prepare the body for physical activity.

Kickstarting blood flow before working out means the body won't have to do as much circulatory work while exercising, Jenkins said. And so we need to get it out to the extremities, to the muscles, through your legs and your arms. In addition to the circulatory process that prompts itchiness, there are idiosyncratic factors causing the itchiness.

Elmariah said some people are predisposed to itchiness in response to physical activity or sweat.