It has been a long held opinion that exercise (or more specifically the impact of running/jumping) leads to a breaking down over time of the joint’s protective covering (articular cartilage) and the subsequent development of arthritis.

Exercise and injury are definitely linked, of that there is no doubt.  But is it fair to link arthritis to exercise?

Well the jury is still out on that one!

In 2008 results were published from a 21 year long study monitoring the ‘disability’ levels of 961 people.  Half were runners and continued to exercise, half did not run.

Interestingly the disability levels of the runners did not increase as one would expect.  In fact they were less!   This led them to state that….

“Increasing healthy lifestyle behaviors may not only improve length and quality of life but also hopefully lead to reduced health care expenditures associated with disability and chronic diseases”.

In 1990 Konradsen, et al, also evaluated a possible association between long-distance running and OA, via retrospective evaluation of former competitive runners who ran 20-40 kilometers per week for 40 years average, versus sedentary controls. They found little to no risk of OA with lifelong long distance running.

When we bear weight through our joint surfaces we compress and release load.  This leads to a squishing out and sucking in of synovial fluid (the fluid in between our joints which bathes the joint surfaces).  That is how oxygen and nutrients are delivered to the joint surface and certainly explains why a daily run or any other workout is useful for maintaining healthy cartilage.

These research papers lend support to the theory that osteoarthritis is caused mainly by genes and risk factors like obesity (obese men and women are at least four times as likely to become arthritic as their thinner peers), rather than daily exercise or wear and tear of joints.   My feeling is that if there is a strong history of OA in your family, and/or if there is persistent and consistent pain and swelling in the knee in response to running, you are probably better off switching to lower impact activities (such as swimming, cycling, cross-country skiing, or at the very most, treadmill running).  Then once settled bring your exercise levels back up as far as you can without setting off another pain episode.

Here are some options for training to optimise running capacity without having to end your running career!

• Maintain a healthy weight.
• Watch where you run. Running on concrete all the time could lead to additional pain so mix it up with some soft sand, trail running or treadmill running.
• Don’t be afraid to walk. Some runners have found success by doing intervals of running and walking. First, they will run three to four minutes and then walk for one or two minutes. They will keep up this pattern throughout the workout
• Cross-train with low impact activity. Alternate your runs with other workouts that don’t put direct pressure on your knee, such as cycling, using the elliptical trainer or swimming. By running one day and then using the elliptical the next, you decrease the impact on your joints while still maintaining your overall fitness.
• Listen to your body. If you get significant pain and swelling after runs, it means the running you did was too much for your knee.
• Get strong. Add some total-body strengthening exercises, such as yoga, Pilates or a strength class at the gym to your workout regimen.