Judy Foreman

Nationally Sindicated Fitness, Health, and Medicine Columnist

  • HOME
  • Books
  • BIO
  • BLOG
  • COLUMNS
  • Q&A
  • PRESS
  • CONTACT

Q & A Search

Q & A Topics

Acupuncture Airplane Masks Alcohol Abuse Alcoholic Cooking Alexander Technique Allergies Anesthesia Antibiotics & Food Antidepressants Anxiety & Exercise Appetite & Sickness Arthritis Arthritis & Tendonitis Arthritis Surgery Artificial Sweeteners Aspirin & Airplanes Aspirin & Ibuprofen Asthma Inhalers Autism Baby Faces Back Pain Bad Breath Bad Shoes Balance & Age Bariatric Surgery Bed Wetting Beta Blockers Black Cohosh Body Fat Body Mass Index Body Odor Bogus Warnings Bone Density Botox Injections Bovine Hormones BP Machines Breast Cancer Breastfeeding & Cancer Broken Heart Burning Mouth Syndrome Burning Toast Butt Surgery Calcium Scan Cancer Risk Cancer Vaccine Cancer-Prone Personality Canker Sores Cellphones Chewing Gum Chewing Ice Children & Anesthesia Chinese Medicine Chiropractic Treatment Chlorine Chorus & Health Christmas Tree Allergy Clemens Treatments Clogged Sinuses Coenzyme Q10 Cold Cold Contagion Cold Medications and the Prostate Cold/Flu Colonoscopy Colonoscopy Risk Computer Use Constipation Contact Lenses Cosmetics Dark Circles Declining Fertility Dental X-rays Deodorant & Breast Cancer Diabetes & Feet Diet & Acid Balance Dietitian Disposable Contacts Diverticulitis Dogs or Cats Drug Information Ear Infections Ear Lobes Ear Wax Eating Broccoli Eating Protein Eggs Electric Shocks Electronic Records Emergency Room Emotions & Cancer Endometriosis Energy Drinks Estrogen & The Skin Estrogen Patches Ethics Consult Exercise & Appetite Exercise & Health Exercise & Stretching Expired Medicines Eye-color Facial Muscles Falling Asleep Feeling Cold Female Hair Loss Fertility Drug Clomid Fertility Monitors Fever Fighting Fever Fingernails First Aid Kits Fizzy Drinks Flat Feet Flu Vaccine Forehead Thermometers Free Radicals French Fries Frozen Chicken Gallblader Polyps Garlic Garlic Supplements General Anesthesia Grapefruit Juice Gray Hair Green Light Laser Therapy Green Tea Gregariousness Grilled Foods Group Therapy Growth Hormone Grumpiness Hair Relaxer Hand Sanitizers HDLs & LDLs Heading Hearing Loss Heart Cancer? Heart Disease Heart Problems Heart Rate & Exercise HIV Medication Home Thermostat Hospital Discharge Hospital Rash Humidifier Use Husbands Age & Birth Defects Hydrocephalus? Hyperactivity Ibuprofen Ibuprofen for Colds Inflammatory Breast Cancer Insomnia Interrupted sleep Iron Supplements Is Sedation Safe Itchy Feet Jogging & Smoking Joint Lubricants Keyboard/Bacteria Kidney Problems Kidney Stone Kidney Stones Kids Food Knuckles Lactose Intolerance Laser Surgery LASIK surgery Lead in Lunch Boxes Liposuction Liver Failure Local Honey Lose Fat Low Blood Pressure Low-Carb Diet Lung Cancer Lupus Macular Degeneration Magnets & Pain Mail Stool Samples Male Baldness Marathon Runners Medical Treatment Meditation Melanoma Self Test Menstrual Cramps Menstruation Suppression Mesotherapy Migraines and Breast Cancer MiniTransplant Miscarriage Moles Mononucleosis Morning or Evening Execise? Mosquito Repellent Mothball Fumes MSG Muscle Builder Muscle Pain Muscle Tears & Ibuprofen Nasal Steroids Newborns Hips Night Terrors Nosebleeds Oats are Great Open Biopsy Osteoporosis Osteoporosis Drug Pacifier Use Painkillers Pajamas vs. Clothes Pelvic Muscle Tear Penicillin Allergy Pets & Health Pets Colds & Flu Pilates Pins and Needles Plantar Fasciitis Poison Ivy Polio Prayer Books Preeclampsia Pressure Ulcers Probiotic Bacteria Probiotics Prostate Biopsy Prostate Cancer Protective Fabrics Psoriasis Red Wine Reflux/Endoscopy Restless Leg Resveratrol Retail Health Clinics Running & Knee Injury Running Nose Salt Schizophrenia Seasonal Affective Disorder Shingles Sleep Apnea Sleep Deprivation Sleeping Pills Smiling-Depression Sneezing Snow Shoveling Spleen Store Bought Glasses Strength Training Stretching Stroke Test Sudden Deafness Sugar Guidelines Sun Screens Sun-seeking Sunburn Sunglasses Sunscreens Swearing & Pain Swimming Tai Chi & Health Tanning Palors Teen Pregnancy Teenage Depression Teeth Grinding Thyroid Cancer Tight Clothes Tinnitus TMJ /TMD Toenail Fungus Toilet Seat Tongue Piercings Tonsils Toothbrush Toothbrushes Trampoline Treadmill Exercise Urinary Tract Infections Urination Varicose Veins Viagra Virtual Colonography Vitamin D Vodka Warts Weekly Workouts Weight Gain Weight Loss Weight Loss Surgery Wet Hair & Colds Whiten Teeth Yoga & Bone Density

Does running increase the risk of knee injury or osteoarthritis?

September 22, 2008 by

No. Contrary to widespread belief, running vigorously well into your later years does not raise the risk of knee osteoarthritis (swelling of the joint, with pain and stiffness, caused by wear and tear) or other disabilities. To the contrary, it can improve overall health, cutting the death rate in half, according to two new studies by Dr. James Fries, a professor of medicine at Stanford University. Both studies bolster previous research on exercise, disability, and longevity.

“The persistent myth about exercise – and running, in particular – is that it increases joint problems, arthritis, and will ultimately destroy joints and lead to disability,” said William J. Evans, an exercise physiologist and chair of nutritional longevity at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences. Not only is this “not true,” he said, but the opposite is true: “There is decreased disability after decades of running.”

Both Fries and Evans noted that while the two new papers focus on running, they believe the results apply to all aerobic exercise. “This study has a very pro-exercise message,” said Fries, a mountaineer and longtime runner. “If you had to pick one thing to make people healthier as they age, it would be aerobic exercise.”

In one of his new studies, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Fries gave annual questionnaires to 538 runners and 423 healthy men and women. All were at least 50 years old when the study began in 1984. After 21 years of follow up, only 15 percent of the runners had died, compared to 34 percent of the non-runners, a greater than two-fold difference.

Just as important, Fries said, the runners were less likely to be disabled. They were able to delay disability – defined as anything that can make it more difficult to perform normal daily tasks – by 16 years.

In the other study, published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, Fries focused on 45 runners and 53 non-runners, all aged 50 or more in 1984, and gave them periodic knee X-rays to detect possible osteoarthritis. After 18 years of testing, there was no increase in risk among runners, he said.

Bottom line? Get up and exercise, at least half an hour a day, at least five days a week, Fries said. And go at a speed that causes you to break and maintain a sweat, but not so fast that you can’t talk to an exercise partner.

Copyright © 2025 Judy Foreman