Running can reduce joint inflammation and delay the onset of osteoarthritis, according to a new study that counters the belief that long-distance running is bad for knees.
Researchers from Brigham Young University (BYU) in the US measured inflammation markers in the knee joint fluid of several healthy men and women aged 18-35, both before and after running.
They found that the specific markers they were looking for in the extracted synovial fluid, two cytokines named GM-CSF and IL-15 – decreased in concentration in the subjects after 30 minutes of running.
When the same fluids were extracted before and after a non-running condition, the inflammation markers stayed at similar levels.
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“What we now know is that for young, healthy individuals, exercise creates an anti-inflammatory environment that may be beneficial in terms of long-term joint health,” said lead author Robert Hyldahl, assistant professor at BYU.
“It flies in the face of intuition. This idea that long-distance running is bad for your knees might be a myth,” said study Matt Seeley, associate professor at BYU.
The study shows that running is chondroprotective, which means exercise may help delay the onset of joint degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis, Hyldahl said.
This is potentially great news since osteoarthritis , the painful disease where cartilage at the end of bones wears down and gradually worsens over time, affects about 27 million people in the US, researchers said.
“This study does not indicate that distance runners are any more likely to get osteoarthritis than any other person. Instead, this study suggests exercise can be a type of medicine,” Seeley said.
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