Recreational runners get less knee and hip osteoarthritis.

Running does not lead to osteoarthritis.

So the research is clear recreational runners have a lower occurrence of knee and hip osteoarthritis compared to sedentary individuals and competitive runners, according to a new international study published in the Journal of Orthopaedic & Sports Physical Therapy (JOSPT).

Researchers in Spain, Sweden, the United States and Canada conducted a systematic review of 17 studies involving a total of 114,829 people, revealing that only 3.5% of male and female recreational runners developed hip or knee arthritis. In contrast, remaining sedentary and forgoing running for exercise was associated with a rate of knee and hip arthritis of 10.2%, while training and running competitively increased the incidence of arthritis in these joints to 13.3%.

So worrying about your joints in later life is something those sitting in the office should worry about, not the many runners out there.

Recreational runners were those individuals who ran in a non-professional or amateur events. Which is most runners! We know that previous studies that also found a link between high-volume and high-intensity running which defined exercise at this level as running more than 57 miles (92 km) per week, repetitively.

“The principal finding in this study is that, in general, running is not associated with osteoarthritis,” said lead author Dr Eduard Alentorn-Geli. He added that “the novel finding in our investigation is the increased association between running and arthritis in competitive, but not in recreational, runners.”

The researchers concluded that running at a recreational level for many years (up to 15 years and possibly more) may be safely recommended as a general health exercise, with benefits for hip and knee joint health.

Runners do get knee pain

Getting knee pain as a runner is pretty common but by managing it early and getting it assessed by a sports physiotherapist then most will settle with treatment. The most common knee pain in runners is patellofemoral pain but is possible to get traumatic knee ligament sprains as well. If you need to see a sports physiotherapist then give us a call on 0131 478 4646 or book online.