Running, knees and cartilage

[isaac42]

Some time back - several years ago, I think it was - we had some discussions about arthritis, running, knees and damage to the cartilage therein. Someone said that running damages the cartilage in the knees, and someone else posted a link that claimed that older runners actually have better cartilage in their knees than non-runners.

 

That's been percolating in the back of my mind for all this time. I read an article not long ago about yoga and stretching. The author wrote that lots of people push stretching as a component of staying healthy, and that yoga aficionados particularly point out that people who have done yoga for years, older, even elderly people, are still very limber. Yoga fans point to this as a reason to do yoga.

 

Then the author said something that really got me thinking. He said that it may be that the reason older people who do yoga are so very limber is that those who try yoga and don't get limber tend to drop out. So it may be that it isn't so much that yoga keeps you limber as that limber people gravitate toward yoga.

 

Similarly, people whose knees crap out on them tend to stop running, so those people who are still running later in life are those whose knees stand up to the stress. It's not that running protects the knees, stimulates the cartilage, or anything like that. It's the other way around. Those who have a predisposition to healthy cartilage in their knees are the ones who keep running.

 

I don't know if my problem is arthritis in my knees or not, but I do have arthritis in my hands, and my shoulders hurt most of the time. All I know is that I was doing great, running six miles a day several days a week, just a few years ago. then, with no apparent injury, my left knee started to hurt after I ran. That got progressively worse, and now I just don't run anymore. I'm still fine for walking, but not running. If my knee hadn't started hurting, I'd still be running.

[Craig Vecchione]

Yes, in short, "correlation is not causation".

[isaac42]

"I used to think that correlation implied causation, but then I took a statistics class, and now I don't."

 

"So the statistics class helped."

 

"Maybe."

[lug]

I only run when it rains and my car is not under a cover. My knees are great. Case Closed!

[WRGKMC]

The whole idea is to raise your heart rate so you burn calories and keep muscle tone. You can get similar results walking. My wife and I take turns walking the dogs around the block. Its good for them and its good for us.

 

If you're going to go beyond walking, there are better ways of working out that don't have the impact. There are many stair climbers and such that tone muscles without the hard impact on joints. I'm lucky enough to have a pool out back and it gives you a good workout without the effects of gravity. Plus you don't overheat in the process of exercising (except for when you're cleaning it in 100 degree weather like I did this weekend)

[isaac42]

Oh, sure, there are lots of ways to exercise, but nothing puts a spring in your step like running does. And it's really hard to be a good triathlete if you don't run!