5 Cutting-Edge Arthritis Treatments All Runners Should Know About
Runners World
By Cassie Shortsleeve March 19, 2019
Running doesn’t cause arthritis. Really: A study published just last year in the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery found that veteran marathoners had about half as much arthritis as their non-running counterparts. Not only that, but a more recent study published in the journal Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, shows that regular exercise actually helps prevent cartilage damage caused by arthritis by minimizing the inflammatory molecules that cause the pain and stiffness.
But the population is far from immune from the condition that’s marked by joint pain, inflammation, and a gradual wearing down of cartilage (the smooth connective tissue that protects your joints). “Runners get up to five times their body weight of force through their joints with each step,” says Florida podiatrist and podiatric surgeon Adam Perler, D.P.M. “This adds up to over two tons of accumulative pressure each day exerted on normal functioning joints.” And that’s just part of the reason we pavement pounders can wind up with an arthritis diagnosis—injury, genetics (some people are simply born with more durable cartilage), and alignment issues can also play a role in arthritis.