Running rarely wrecks your knees, and often strengthens them | Hacker News Reader

Running rarely wrecks your knees, and often strengthens them

washingtonpost.com

10 pointsbookofjoe6 comments

Not to argue with the article or any in the comments so far but here is my wisdom on this subject.

People who may have injuries, imbalances or just poor skeletal health are the ones who when they instantly take up a sport that is leg heavy at full load they end up with knee pain/damage. The point of visiting your doctor to make sure you are healthy enough to engage in an activity is good advice. I think form, distance and intensity are all important things to take into consideration. Bad form = potential for pain. Too much distance in a short time = potential for pain. Too intense = potential for pain. So having a good doctor and a good coach/trainer can help anyone taking on a new sport without injuries/pain.

Forgive me for not providing a link but I believe there is some research out there that suggests damage to the knee from running is normally from sports where there is high impact to it. For instance soccer where players make hard cuts and put a ton of stress on the joint and ligaments. Whereas steady state low intensity running is basically a stressor/strengthening for the cartilage and ligaments.

I believe weight and form have a lot to do with it too.

An anecdote: I started running earlier this year and soon got knee pain. I bought a knee brace that did wonder for that and I used it for about 2 months. Then, I decided to try again without the brace and, lo and behold, no pain at all.

I have been running about 5k almost every day since (no brace) and I have no pain whatsoever.

Im my case it definitely seems that the pain was caused by weak joints/tendons and that it went away when my knees strengthened.

Please just be careful. I'll be delighted if I can save you from the situation I ended up creating with knee braces.

Returning to running after an injury, I did the same thing with a brace on the damaged knee, and it was a real life saver at first. Then after a month or three, my other knee started hurting. I realized my body naturally compensated for the first brace by putting more strain on the unbraced knee. Then I tried two braces and it was good at first, then things deteriorated further and both knees would hurt when I ran.

Now I run without any braces.

Of course, it completely depends on your situation, but the best general advice I received about running:

1. Listen to your body (duh!) and don't ignore signals

2. Be relatively gentle with your body and ramp up slowly over a long period of time (months). I am a distance runner, ideally 4-10 miles.

In hindsight I wish I'd gone to a sports medicine doctor or some kind when the pain first started. Stupid stoicism.

i have never heard of running hurting knees, but I have heard of jogging as hurting the knees which they do not address in the article.

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