-
Running does not necessarily damage the knees; indeed, studies show that runners suffer less osteoarthritis than sedentary runners.
-
Runners also tend to have lower BMI and lower inflammatory status, which results in fewer joint problems.
-
Proper running technique (like taking shorter, more frequent steps), can reduce the overload on joints.
How manytimes have you heard yourself say, “Eh, I’d love to run but I have knee problems,” or the more insidious (and also bad luck, let’s face it) “Everyone who runs I know has knee problems. Running hurts?” If you could have 50 cents for every time now we would be telling each other aboard your 80-meter boat. The consideration from which these ideas arise is that because running is a wearing activity, it is the joints that are affected. There is certainly some truth in such a statement: runners use their bodies more and thus wear them out. However, this is only part of the truth: according to this theory, those who do not move or do so very little would be better preserved, rather like those sofas that are left in cellophane so as not to ruin them. Sorry, but that’s not really the case, partly because not exercising leads to so many other problems: cardiac, metabolic, psychological, to name just a few. The benefits of running and sports are so many that they leave the proponents of sedentariness short of valid arguments. And firmly on their couch.
Science Speaks
However, the basic problem remains: if you use your joints maybe your cholesterol is fine but you wear out. Is this true? How can you tell? You study, you test, you get an idea motivated by methodically collected data. First you define what you are looking for, in our case osteoarthritis and its causes. What are they all about? Simply put, of bad knees. A very common phenomenon between the ages of 40 and 50 and virtually inevitable the older you get. In detail, it is a degeneration of tissues (cartilage, mainly) affecting joints that harden or grow abnormally instead of doing their job, which is to facilitate movement. An initial study followed a hundred subjects both runners and non-runners between the ages of 50 and 70 over the course of 20 years.
X-ray examination verified that only 20 percent of the runners had developed osteoarthritis problems, compared with 32 percent of their sedentary colleagues. In contrast, another study analyzed the health status of 2,000 subjects who minutely described their sports or nonsports habits and episodes of knee pain. The result was that it was runners who suffered the least, on average 29% less. In other words, those who used their knees less were not necessarily the ones who kept them in a better state, quite the contrary. Finally, one study studied people over 50 years old, still over a long period of time and choosing candidates who were members of a running club and others who were sedentary. Again, it was the runners who were better preserved to the point that, at the same age, over 70 many of them outlived the sedentary ones, as well as exhibiting fewer physical problems. A good point that running (and even starting to run) late in life limits or cancels many aging-related issues. Other than worn joints.
Why do runners suffer less joint pain?
Using the joints wears them down, yet runners suffer less from diseases related to the state of their cartilage. Why? One possible explanation is related to the fact that runners, being trained, have a lower BMI and therefore load their skeletal system less. Painful joints are also in this state as a result of an inflammatory state that is more common in overweight people. This condition, in other words, can cause a generalized state of inflammation that also involves the joints. Finally, it was concluded that it is not true that cartilage is better preserved if it is not used; on the contrary: the more it is used, the more it is adapted to maintain itself in an optimal state through the production of new cartilage. That’s why sedentary people with osteoarthritis problems are advised to exercise, which would seem to be a nonsense.
Runners are not immune
It is better at this point not to feel free to be able to do anything, “so much I run.” However, one can see the problem from another angle: the most common problems of runners, among which we mention iliotibial band syndrome, plantar fasciitis, tendinitis, and, of course, knee pain) are often due to problems that lie elsewhere. The magnificent machine of the body in fact acts to compensate in some places for problems that lie elsewhere. In other words, having knee pain does not necessarily mean that the problem is in the knees because it could be in a whole other body position, most often in the hips.
A method to try
Do you have problems like those described so far? With the understanding that you have to pitstop at a specialist, there is something you can also do by running. That’s right: all you need to do is change your running style a little to load your joints more properly, which are often overstressed by improper load distribution. It happens, for example, if you have too wide a stride that, with each impact on the ground, transmits more force to your joints than they can handle. To avoid this you need to increase your cadence by taking shorter and more frequent steps. Think about how you drive a nail: you can do it with a couple of powerful hammers or with more blows but with greater frequency. In the former, you take less time but increase the chance of mis-aiming and bending the nail; in the latter, you are more in control and it is harder to get it wrong. The final advice is not to run thinking you are a tank. Next time think of yourself as a beautiful butterfly. Think what a beauty. (via Runner’s World)