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You'll shoot yer eye out!!!

Yep, I heard it again.  Yesterday my wife came home from work and had a message from a co-worker that had heard she's married to a runner.  "I ran track in high school and hurt my leg.  Tell your husband he should stop running."  Mila dutifully came home and told me, smiling the whole time because she knew how much I would follow that advice.
It's far from the first time I have heard something along those lines.  "Doesn't that destroy your knees?"  "How long until your legs go out?"  "When you get older, you'll be lucky to walk." are some others. Can't forget "I got plantar fasciitis, you will too, so you should just quit."  I mean, she wasn't wrong.  I DID get plantar.  But, I just figured out ways to treat it.
Maybe I'm not the right guy to dive into this.  Prior to focusing on running, I trained various martial arts for 15 years. The risk of injury or pain was the norm.  It is all about what kind of risk you want to take. 
Risk is inherent in living.  Whether you're sitting all day potentially damaging your back, eating unhealthy foods, or working a strenuous job, there is always some sort of risk.  My job is not very physically demanding other than an annual PT test, so I have to look for my physical activity outside of the office.
However, I have to give this a fair shake.  What are the long term risks associated with running?  Are there benefits and drawbacks to being an avid running?  What are the differences between runners and non-runners?
If you can't tell, I'm not in class so writing a research-centric blog post doesn't seem like a bad idea.  This post will be limited by a couple of factors, my understanding of what I'm reading and, honestly, effort.  I'll do the Google searches and look for what appear to be credible sources, but I'm not guaranteeing 100%.
One of the very first things I found was interesting.  Long and short of it, a study was done by Stanford University on older (50+) runners and found that they had lower rates of arthritis in their knees as they continued running.  They had a higher rate when the study started in 1984, but by 2002, the non-runners had higher rates (Chakravarty, Hubert, Lingala, Zatarain, and Fries).  Many of the runners were already experienced runners.  All of the participants of the study slowed down with age (as we all do) and much of their running often turned to walking.  The runners averaged 300 minutes per week of vigorous exercise and the control group averaged 100 minutes.  Finally, the conclusion of the abstract points out that their is not enough statistical significance to say that long-distance running is associated with lower rates of osteoarthritis but, even at elite levels it "may not be an independent risk factor for knee osteoarthritis." 
A 1996 study that was footnoted in my previous example shows something a little different.  They took female former elite athletes aged 40-65 and compared their rates of radiological osteoarthritis in the hips and knees.  The results showed that rates were two to three times higher among former elite athletes (Harris, Hart, Cicuttini, Nandra, Estherington, Wolman, and Doyle).  Comparing the two, maybe lower intensity training (comparing a recreational distance runner in their 50s to a high-level athlete in their 20s and/or 30s) is better for the knees?  Let's see what else I can dig up here.
A recurring theme that I have found not only in my own running but running partners and what I'm seeing in various non-knee arthritis articles (that's the most common article it seems) is that many of the problems are solvable.  Many of these problems are caused by incorrect gait or shoes or even muscle imbalances.  The problems that my brother is trying to help me fix are ankle mobility and tight hamstrings.  These problems can be solved by many things we can do like run correctly, stretch, buy different shoes, or build up specific muscle groups.  Something as "simple" as losing weight can help also.  There are tons and articles and videos showing runners how to fix their problems via foam rolling, stretches, or how to pick out shoes that are right how each individual runs.  The gist of the dozens of articles that I've read through the last week while doing this has been "you should be able to run if you're a healthy human.  If there are problems while running, there's generally a fix that we can implement."
That is comforting.  I have had niggles here and there, but nothing that has put me on the sidelines completely.  I think that every seasoned runner has had to back off intensity or mileage to baby an ache or strain.  There is such a thing as overuse or going too fast, too intense, or too long before you're ready. 
Another thing to consider is the source.  For many people, running is not fun.  They remember how free and easy and seemed as a little kid and find it isn't the same as adults.  Their stamina is not what it once was.  They may not run as naturally.  In my experience, people that cannot fathom marathons rarely wrong longer than a couple miles at a time.  When they run those 2-3 miles, it is at full tilt. That hurts.  If your feet and legs aren't ready or conditioned it will take a toll on them as well as the lungs.  Many of the people that have warned me about the dangers of running view the sport as punishment or, at the very least, a necessary evil. 
My take from this bit of research and personal experience is that many of the "naysayers" are well meaning but often working from a viewpoint of misconception or anecdotal evidence.  They're also not looking it as something to love and work your way into.  For many of my military folks it is just something that they're forced to do.  I understand that there certainly are people that are unable to run for physical reasons and that for some reason, some bodies are just not made for distance running.  I also don't expect most people to understand the craziness of the distance runner.  I have an example of that right at home with me.  We all have our hobbies that have their version of risk.  Hobbies that we are willing to work very hard on and push us to figure out how to improve and get through tough spots.  Mine, right now, is running.  Yes there are risks.  I just happen to be willing to accept them.
As I'm working on this, a UFC fighter that just lost tweeted this which illustrates another version of my point.
All right, this is a lot of text with no pictures! Let's remedy that.  Here's some pics dealing with the Shannon Trail Series that's we've got going.  1 more race!  Check here for registration for our third race on February 17th.


Here are the articles and studies that I used to do my digging:

Risk of osteoarthritis associated with long-term weight-bearing sports: a radiologic survey of the hips and knees in female ex-athletes and population controls.


Long Distance Running and Knee Osteoarthritis A Prospective Study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2556152/

Effects of running and walking on osteoarthritis and hip replacement risk. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23377837?report=abstract


Runner's World: Runner's Knee https://www.runnersworld.com/runners-knee



New York Times: Why Runners Don't Get Knee Arthritis https://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/25/why-runners-dont-get-knee-arthritis/

WebMD 10 Common Running Injuries: Prevention and Treatment https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/running-injuries-causes-prevention-treatment#1


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