Adam Cohen and Dr. Rod McEver
Adam’s Diary
I can’t tell you how many times someone has said a variation of the following statement to me: “Running will hurt your knees.”
But I’ve been a (fairly) dedicated runner for 35 years and, knock on wood, other than a few minor speed bumps over the years, my knees seem to be fine. Am I just lucky?
Dr. McEver prescribes
Running, of course, isn’t for everyone. And I write this as someone who used to run marathons and now prefers to walk.
While running, with its constant pounding, seems to destroy knee cartilage, a study conducted by Stanford University suggests otherwise. Led by Dr. Eliza Chakravarty, who later joined the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as a rheumatologist, scientists conducted an 18-year study comparing levels of knee osteoarthritis in a group of nearly 100 runners and non-runners. runners with an average age of 58 at the start of the study.
The researchers took regular X-rays of the subjects’ knees throughout the study and found that even when they reached their mid-70s, the runners had neither a higher prevalence of osteoarthritis nor a greater frequency of severe osteoarthritis. In fact, in both categories, as they aged, runners scored slightly better than their non-runner counterparts.
These findings are supported by a more recent analysis of 43 MRI studies that found no evidence that running causes short- or long-term damage to knee cartilage.
While researchers continue to examine why this seems to be the case, the most common hypothesis is that regular weight-bearing exercises like running can help cartilage grow. Indeed, one small study found that non-runners who participated in a 10-week running program saw improvements in a marker of cartilage strength and quality.
For those who don’t or can’t run, a new walking study offers hope. Scientists found that in more than 1,000 people aged 50 and over with osteoarthritis of the knees, those who walked for exercise experienced the fewest episodes of new knee pain.
Regular weight-bearing exercise seems to keep knees healthy as we age. So don’t listen to the naysayers; keep moving!
McEver, a physician-researcher, is vice president of research at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation. Cohen is a marathon runner and Senior Vice President and General Counsel of OMRF. Submit your health questions to them at [email protected]