
01/16/2023
Myth Buster Monday
“Running is bad for your knees.” “Running causes arthritis.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this come out of people’s mouths. I’ve heard it from patients. I’ve heard it from physicians. I’ve heard it from family members who tell me that if I’m not careful I’ll end up with arthritis from all the running I do.
Well joke’s on them! Running is good for you! It’s good for your joints, muscles, and cardiovascular system. It is completely safe as long as you’re properly taking care of yourself and increasing training appropriately.
A study published in 2017, found that recreational runners are actually less likely to have hip and knee osteoarthritis (OA) than those who are sedentary. The prevalence of OA in recreational runners was 3.66% compared to the 10.2% of non-running, sedentary individuals.
The caveat is that elite and professional runners are more likely to experience hip/knee OA than recreational runners. It is unknown if this is due to their high running volume, previous injury, or other factors.
So if you love running, run on friends!