Running May Be Good for Knees

Yes Virginia, running–even distance running- may be good for our knees. The latest evidence for that surprising suggestion comes from Dr. Alister Hart, an orthopedic surgeon and research professor at University College London and the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, who became interested in the effects of running on knees in 2012, the year he ran his first marathon. The New York Times reports that Hart isn’t the first researcher to claim that running is good for knees: one earlier study found that elderly runners developed knee arthritis at lower rates than sedentary people, and another study found that young people’s knees grew less inflamed after a run than after a long stretch of sitting. Now the Times brings us up to date on Hart’s recent work, which examined the knees of middle-aged runners of the London Marathon, both before training and after the race. To their surprise, his research team found that running appeared to diminish existing bone marrow lesions and cartilage damage, although they also found increased damage to cartilage in the front of the knees. All in all, however, co-researcher Laura Maria Horga reports that the marathon runners’ knees appeared to be healthier after the race than they were a the start of training. Read the study here and follow their research on their website, runningforscience.org.

Share on Google Plus