Are you worried about whether the exercise you are doing today could lead to arthritis in years to come?
Or are you using the risk of arthritis as an excuse for not pulling your exercise gear on and getting into it?
If so, I’ve got good news and bad news. The good news is that researchers have confirmed that exercise does not contribute to arthritis. The bad news is…. No more excuses!
In an article put together by the Harvard Medical School, they reported a number of studies showing that exercise can be safe for joints, both in older, overweight people and in athletes.
In a study that commenced in 1993, researchers examined the exercise habits of 1279 people who where free of arthritis and whose average age was 53 years.
The participants answered detailed questions about their exercise habits, including walking, jogging, being active enough to work up a sweat, and their overall exercise level. They each provided information about knee injuries and symptoms of knee pain and stiffness. In addition, all the volunteers were weighed and measured, and they each had a full series of knee x-rays.
Between 2002 and 2005, the subjects answered the same questions about knee pain and injury, and the x-rays were repeated. The x-rays were independently assessed by two experts who had no knowledge of the participants’ exercise history.
The researchers found no link between exercise and arthritis of the knee. The most active people had the same risk of arthritis as the least active, in terms of both symptoms and x-ray abnormalities.
Whether people jogged or walked made little difference, even though jogging subjects the lower body to much higher impact and stress than walking.
Even though obesity is an independent risk factor for arthritis, physically active overweight members of the study did not have any more knee problems than their slim counterparts.
Other studies, including one from Australia, supported the view that walking and running do not increase the risk of arthritis. In fact a British study in 2005 found that both walking and muscle-strengthening were safe and effective, at reducing pain and disability in people with arthritis. Similarly, studies from the Netherlands and UK reported that graded exercise programs are safe and eff ective for patients with arthritis of the hip or knee. So what does all that mean? No more excuses.
Note – it’s still important to wear supportive shoes and I recommend running on soft surfaces whenever possible.
