Jogging and your Knees: Friends at Last!

I've never been a huge fan of jogging and because of that, I've always actively looked for reasons not to do it. Bad weather, unsafe streets, broken back - anything that came my way, I'd throw out to the universe as an excuse not to hit the mean streets. Now that I've reached the twilight of my years, I've simply settled into the "it's hard on aging knees" excuse-groove.

(Okay, so technically, I'm in the early afternoon of my years, but in some ways, 40 is the new 80. When kids start telling you that you smell like vitamins and waitresses suggest a side salad with your tempeh burrito because they think you need plenty of fiber in your diet, it's okay to throw around words like "twilight.")

Unfortunately those commie bastards at NPR have botched my tidy little excuse by reporting on new studies showing that, for most of us, running doesn't harm the knees at all. In fact, it can actually strengthen knees.

David Felson, a researcher and epidemiologist at Boston University School of Medicine, says past concern about jogging and knees centered on the continuous impact of the foot to the ground and suggestion that it caused degeneration of the knee and the onset of osteoarthritis. But when researchers actually studied the impact of running on knees, he says, that's not what they found.

"We know from many long-term studies that running doesn't appear to cause much damage to the knees," he says. "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." Both types of studies agree, says Felson, that recreational running doesn't increase the risk of arthritis.

The story goes on to explain that the impact running has on the knees might actually stimulate the production of proteins that strengthen cartilage. I'm interested to see what kind of impact this information will have on the barefoot debate, where both sides claim the other side is systematically grinding their knees to boney nubs. Maybe they're both wrong. The article states that if you already have damaged knees or you're obese, jogging isn't something you want to jump right into, but other than that, it looks like you're free and clear, whether you're shod or not.

Except me. I haven't read the entire text of any of the studies yet, but I'm fairly certain that there's some caveat in every one that says if you're a blogger who reeks like a GNC and is occasionally a victim of mild ageism at vegetarian restaurants, you shouldn't jog.

At least that's my story.