I recommend running to anyone.
Unless you have severe joint problems, in which I case I think non-impact activities like swimming and flat cycling are a better alternatives.
Unless you have severe joint problems, in which I case I think non-impact activities like swimming and flat cycling are a better alternatives.
The problem with most running shoes is that they permit you to run terribly without (immediate) pain. They allow you to land with significant pressure on your heel or back half of your foot without really noticing. The flex in your foot and elasticity of your calf muscle help significantly in absorbing the energy of your foot striking the ground (and ideally returns some of it).
Try this test: Without shoes, bounce up and down on your toes. Now try again on your heels. Ouch! And yet this is how many people run without noticing. Of course significant knee/ankle pain comes at some point.
I'd recommend to anyone who experiences knee/ankle pain from running to try running without shoes for a very short distance, take note of your technique, and then replicate that with shoes on (or buy some very thin soled running shoes like those five-fingered variety). Your calf muscles will likely hurt like hell for the first few runs (because you weren't using them before), but they will soon adjust.
I'm not challenging that for some value of "severe" this is true, and I'm sceptical that my own experience represents anything useful at all for anyone else. But my question is: is there actual clinical evidence that this is the case, or is this actually just an old wives' tale?
There are plenty of things online that suggest the opposite[1] - but can anyone who actually knows what they are talking about chime in with the state of the art?
[1]: http://www.runnersworld.com/injury-treatment/joint-myth?page...
Bone density is definitely an issue, especially for women.
Said lead researcher and epidemiologist David Felson of BU: “We know from many long-term studies that running doesn’t appear to cause much damage to the knees. When we look at people with knee arthritis, we don’t find much of a previous history of running, and when we look at runners and follow them over time, we don’t find that their risk of developing osteoarthritis is any more than expected.” Felson added that recreational running doesn't increase the risk of arthritis."
Quoted from: http://www.mizunousa.com/running/blog/article/the-planet-wav...
Anyway, I find now that if I do any duration of impact-based activity that I will pay for it; I feel each impact in my spine, though that is bearable for a while, but the next day my lower spine and sacral area will be stiff and sore. Whereas when I swim there is neither immediate nor consequential pain relating to the injury.
It's lucky that I'm a lazy bastard and didn't intend on running anyway :p
Open chain exercises leave the foot or hand free to move (like swimming) and because of the lack of support they can actually exacerbate injuries. Instead of putting a joint under compression they put it under tensive strain.
Closed chain exercises are the opposite, the hand or foot is rooted in place (pushups, running, squats, etc) and because of this they add stability through the compression, BUT because of the compression they can also exacerbate injuries (especially because closed chain exercises are often weighted or involve repeated impact).
In the end, like most things, there is no one size fits all. In some situations closed chain is better, other open chain is better. For the average person it doesn't matter as much as most people think. If you're injured consult an expert for exercise to do, if you don't want to do that avoid exercises that cause joint pain.
Most of the studies are injury-specific and not in 100% agreement.
Uphills runs and stair-training are also significantly lower impact on the knees and hips, though both can be harder on certain muscle groups like hamstrings.
I recommend to everyone to find some winding, hilly mountain bike trails and go run on them. I could never get into running outside the context of team sports until I tried this; it's an absolute blast, especially if you have a background in sprinting.