Knee pain affects 1 in 5 people in Australia, with the incidence increasing steadily with age. Osteoarthritis and overuse of the structures around the joint account for a huge slab of these.
But what about knee pain with running? Is it really true that running is bad for your knees?
OK, granted the load through your knees is greater with running than with walking, but how do other activities stack up? Here are the approximate forces that pass through the knee for each activity. This is according to 2 studies - Lenhart et al. (2014) and Sanchis-Alfonso et al. (2016)
- Walking on level ground - 0.5 x body weight
- Cycling on level ground - 1.5 x body weight
- Stairs, both up or down - 3-4 x body weight
- Running - 4-8 x body weight
- Squatting unloaded - 7-8 x body weight
- Jumping - 20 x body weight
I really believe that running gets a bad rap for the reason knees become sore, or why, for some, running is never given a good chance. Like any tissue in our body, our knees can adapt to the loads and stresses we put on them. How do we do this? With:
- exercise and indiviualised programs to correct, control and restore pelvic, hip and lower leg imbalances and bio-mechanics
- graduated programs of running, practicing the 'pace it, don't race it' method
- cross training and running specific strengthening, where loads are controlled but delivered to the knee to adapt and become more resilient to the loads we ask of them when jogging.
There is no one perfect recipe for exercise when it comes to knees and running. We are all different and the way we move is so varied. Thorough assessment, holistically looking at each moving part, running analysis and breakdown, training program adaptations are all crucial in getting knees happy to play their part with running. This, thrown in with a persistent and motivated runner-to-be, can become the runner without the dodgy knees.
If you really desire to lace up the shoes and start jogging, get your knees to a good running physio!
