I’m sure you’ve heard it before from friends, family members, and even your healthcare providers, but we have good news for you! Let’s see what the research has to say:
A systematic study is research that analyzes the data of multiple studies/articles and determines a conclusion from them. For example, one systematic study looked at 43 articles about running and its effect on cartilage thickness in joints. The data revealed that running could cause minor or moderate decreases in cartilage thickness immediately after a run. However, those changes did not linger, and the cartilage thickness returned to baseline.
“Repeated running exposure did not cause changes to foot and ankle cartilage thickness or composition.”
Research has found that repeated running does not result in new lesions in the cartilage. The body is very resilient, and the cartilage does recover after a single bout of running — which is great news for those that love running!
As always, monitor your systems when performing activities if you have pain. This article did not specifically look at participants who had pain prior to running. If you experience pain while running, feel free to reach out to one of our physical therapists at SetPT to get thoroughly assessed. Happy Moving!
Source adapted from:
Khan, M., O’Donovan, J., Charlton, J. M., Roy, J. S., Hunt, M. A., & Esculier, J. F. (2022). The Influence of Running on Lower Limb Cartilage: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis. Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.), 52(1), 55–74. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-021-01533-7
