It makes sense that running, with all that high impact, could cause damage to the knees, right? But the truth is that running is not only not harmful, it may actually protect against knee injury, according to a new study.
The study, led by Dr. Grace H-W. Lo, of the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, analyzed data from 2.683 non-obese adults (44% were male) with a mean age of 64.5. Twenty—nine percent of those subject said that they had been runners at some point in their life.
Lo found that while 41.6% of non-runners experienced knee pain, only 35% of runners did. And 30% of non-runners vs. 23% of runners experienced “symptomatic radiographic osteoarthritis” (a fancy way saying that they had evidence of osteoarthritis and pain in the same knee at the same time).
Now, we’re not suggesting that you start training for a marathon, but if your knees don’t hurt and you’re not overweight, ask your provider whether running is an appropriate exercise for you.
