Bad knees? You're cleared for running
It's an old myth that running will ruin your knees. Study after study has cleared running (yes, even on pavement) of causing damage to your knees. What was not well researched until very recently however, was whether running when you already have arthritis in your knees could make the problem worse over time.
It's easy to see why doctors might be concerned. If you already have cartilage damage, putting added stress on the joints through running sounds like it could make the problem worse. New studies have recently shown that not only does running appear to do no added damage to the knees of runners, running may be beneficial.
While it did not improve the health of the knees, runners generally experienced less pain compared to non-runners with the same condition. This could be for a variety of reasons. Runners tend to be lighter than non-runners, putting less stress on joints overall, and running itself may reduce the number of a molecule called COMP in synovial fluid. COMP is associated with inflammation, and those with arthritis have as much as 5x as much in their synovial fluid as those with healthy joints.
Running seems to squeeze the molecules out and into the blood, while sitting seems to increase the amount in joints. This data was relatively consistent across the small number of runners tested in the study, but testing at longer distances and in other situations still needs to be done.
While more research needs to be done, the chances are good that if you have been using your sore joints as a reason to not run, you can probably safely set that excuse aside and pick up your running shoes after all. It may even do your joints some good.
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