What running does to the knees, according to a large survey of marathon runners

March 7, 2023

The new research surveyed 3,804 recreational runners who participated in the Chicago Marathon in 2019 or 2021 with questions from how many years they’d been running and their average running paces to whether they had family histories of arthritis.

It’s widely believed, even among doctors, that using the joints more often, through a repetitive activity like running, makes the knee and hip cartilage deteriorate more quickly, upping osteoarthritis risk.

The Northwestern University researchers — including Hartwell, who was at Northwestern for the duration of the study, and a co-author, Dr. Vehniah Tjong, an orthopedic sports surgeon — found that wasn’t the case. NBC News