The authors of this study wanted to find out if running caused damage to already arthritic knees in overweight men and women that were somewhat overweight. The runners ran at their own pace over a period of about 4 years. They concluded that knee pain improved and the x-rays did not show any more damage to the knee joints. ~Dr. Broussard
Running does not increase symptoms or structural progression in people with knee osteoarthritis: Data from the osteoarthritis initiative
Clinical Rheumatology — | May 07, 2018
Lo GH, et al. – Researchers assessed the relationship of self-selected running on osteoarthritis (OA) symptom and structure progression in people with knee OA. In individuals 50 years old and older with knee OA, an association of self-selected running with improved knee pain and not with worsening knee pain or radiographically defined structural progression was seen. Hence, self-selected running, which was likely influenced by knee symptoms and could result in lower intensity and shorter duration sessions of exercise, need not be discouraged in people with knee OA.
Methods
- In this nested cohort study within the Osteoarthritis Initiative (OAI) (2004–2014) authors included those at least 50 years old with OA in at least 1 knee.
- They defined the runners using a self-administered questionnaire at the 96-month visit.
- Experts evaluated symptoms and scored radiographs for Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade (2–4) and medial Joint Space Narrowing (JSN) score (0–3) at baseline and 48-months.
- The association of self-selected running with outcomes: KL worsening, medial JSN worsening, new knee pain, and improved knee pain over 48 months, adjusting for baseline age, sex, body mass index (BMI), KL score, contralateral KL score, contralateral knee pain, and injury were evaluated.
- In case of unavailability of data at the 48-month visit, they were imputed from the 36-month visit.
Results
- As per data, 1,203 participants had a mean age of 63.2 (7.9) years, BMI of 29.5 (4.6) kg/m2, 45.3% male, and 11.5% runners.
- Results suggested that data from 8% of participants required imputation.
- Authors noted that adjusted odds ratios for KL grade worsening and new frequent knee pain were 0.9 (0.6-1.3) and 0.9 (0.6-1.6) respectively.
- For frequent knee pain resolution, adjusted odds ratio was 1.7 (1.0-2.8).
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