Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding

by Daniel E. Lieberman

We should do everything we can to prevent runners from getting hurt, but it also behooves us to puncture some pervasive myths about running injuries, the biggest of which is that wear and tear from hoofing too many miles will erode the cartilage in your knees and hips and give you osteoarthritis. Not so. Despite what many doctors and others assume, more than a dozen careful studies show that nonprofessional runners are no more likely to develop osteoarthritis than non-runners.44 In fact, running and other forms of physical activity help promote healthy cartilage and may protect against the disease. A study from my lab showed that people’s chances of getting knee osteoarthritis at a given age and weight have doubled over the last two generations as we have become less, not more, active.45 Even so, injuries still do occur, most frequently in the knee. Leaving aside traumas like sprained ankles, is there anything we can do to prevent running injuries?