Love to run but hate the fact that it’s bad for your knees?  Well, as it happens, your running and your knee pain may have nothing to do with each other.  And that’s not just me saying it, that’s three (count ‘em, one, two, THREE) studies all coming to the same conclusion:  Running has no adverse impact on the knees.

Most of us (myself included) just sort of assumed that running wears away knee cartilage over time.  And why wouldn’t it?  After all, the knees can only sustain so much pounding on pavement, only so much bending and twisting, and tolerate only so much shock from the millions upon millions of steps taken on treadmills and outdoor trail ways.

Right?

Well, science has thrown a major wrench into that theory, as the following studies indicate:

• A Stanford University analysis of over 250 long distance runners and non-runners over 18 years found no link between osteoarthritis and long distance running. In fact, by the end of the study, there were more cases of osteoarthritis among the non-runners than among the long distance runners (32 percent vs. 20 percent), not to mention more severe cases of osteoarthritis (9.4 percent versus 2.2 percent). They did find, however, an association between osteoarthritis and a high body mass index.
  
  
• A 10-year study out of Vienna, Austria found that people who gave up running after years of regular running had worse knee health than those who had run for the same number of years and continued doing so. The researchers conclude that running may actually offer a “protective” effect, shielding the knees from permanent structural damage. And this protective value was found among super long distance runners (i.e. marathoners).
  
  
• In a separate study also out of Austria, researchers performed MRIs on trained athletes’ knees before and after they ran a marathon (i.e. the MRIs assessed the health of runners’ cartilage, their bone marrow, and their ligaments). Despite 26 miles of pounding, the MRIs revealed no severe damage to the knees of well-trained athletes in the aftermath of the race.
  
  

The studies were published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2008), Skeletal Radiology (2008), and European Radiology (2006), respectively.

So, should these studies lead you to believe that you’ve been wrong all along about the true source of your knee pain?  Not necessarily.  Every person differs, and there are certainly a number of people out there for whom running does cause pain.

At the very least, however, the studies suggest that your knee pain may require further investigation.

As the first study found, it may be a function of your weight.  Or it may be a function of your gait, which is to say the manner in which you run (e.g. Are you overpronating?).

Or it may be something as simple as the sneakers you’re using.  Depending on the shoe and the amount their used, running sneakers are not meant to be worn for more than four to five months (or 450-500 miles).  And unless you’re a trained professional, you shouldn’t be getting your shoes from some Mom & Pop shoe store that only allows you to try them on and walk around.

If possible, seek out a store that specializes in running.  These stores employ trained professionals who can get you into the right shoe for your foot and your running style (They’ll often allow you to run around the store to test them out).

In short, you need not run away from your favorite past time just yet.  Doing some sleuthing will help you get to the true source of your knee pain.

Sources
pubmedcentral.nih.gov
runnersrescue.com
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
ncbi.nlm.nih.gov