Sacramento Running News

Running may protect that knee.

If you are like me, I’m sure you’ve had more than one person–often a relative, sometimes my mother–tell you that running is going to ruin your knees.

There have been many studies over the years debunking this myth, with most showing the major risk factor for knee pain in adults is knee injury in youth.

Christie Aschwanden, at the Washington Post, writes about yet another study looking for, and failing to find, increased rates of osteoarthritis among runners.

“People think the joint is just a static, inert hinge that wears down, but it’s actually a dynamic, living thing that can respond to stress and adapt and get stronger,” he says. Rather than wear down cartilage and other joint tissue, running appears to strengthen them, Hutchinson (Sweat Science) says.

It’s definitely worth a read if for no other reason than to reassure my mother that my knees are going to be fine.