Wednesday, August 24, 2011

No muscles were hurt in the making of this post.

I love it when we ask me "Aren't you afraid you are going to ruin your knees with all that running?"  No I really am not and I found the science to back me up!  Granted that if you already are genetically predisposed to arthritis it is going to come anyway, but there is no real link between running and arthritis.   I found this great article on  Time magazine's webpage called Running Not So Bad For Your Knees. 
It isn't the first time I have seen studies like that but I thought I would share it here anyway, basically it says that doing high impact exercises is actually good for your knees.  Researchers in Australia who did a study
"found that people who exercised vigorously had thicker and healthier knee cartilage than their sedentary peers. That suggests the exercisers may have also enjoyed a lower risk of osteoarthritis, which is caused by breakdown and loss of cartilage."
 It goes on to discuss some other injuries like stress fractures and soft tissue damage, but the main point is arthritis is caused by genetics and obesity.  Running will not ruin your knees and is actually GOOD for for it! 


I was supposed to work yesterday but ended up getting overstaffed...oh darn.  So I went for a run instead.  Yay  
I did a few hills then threw in some 800 and 400 intervals. Did a total of 6 miles.  I was mostly just testing out my legs after the race Saturday and testing out running in my Tommie Copper sleeves.  This is how I feel about them and getting to run yesterday.  It was little hot out and smoky.  There are some fires on the Crow Reservation, which I live close to.
Yup they feel pretty good! Although as you can see by the end of the run I had rolled down the knee sleeves.  Here is the before picture, that was the after.  Sorry, sometimes I just do things backwards!
I got bored while using my self timer to take pictures of me in my sleeves and decided to see if a) could still do a toe touch and b) was able to actually able to get a picture of it.  After 37 tries I got this.   Not bad for an inflexible thirty-something mother of two.  Disclaimer:  No muscles were hurt in the taking of this picture.  I stretched before and after.  Yes I was a cheerleader in high school.
Don't forget to enter my Tommie Copper Giveaway HERE

SO don't worry about your knee joints as you run today you are actually making them healthier! In case you cannnot see it, I am sticking my tongue out at all the running naysayers!

30 comments:

  1. oh man, I want to be able to jump in the air and touch my toes like that!

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  2. Neat info about the knees--people always tell me that running will hurt them...not true!!
    Such a cool photo Christy!!
    :)

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  3. I love reading studies like that. Then when someone says something you're like "actually science says you're wrong!"

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  4. I can do a toe touch! When I'm on a trampoline. LOL. While I was out running yesterday, my knees were hurting and I'm like...Running is messing up my knees. Thanks for the article.

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  5. Holy hell, look at that jump!!!!! My husbands family thinks we are nuts and we will wind up in a wheel chair someday..

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  6. Holy crap! That is a nice toe touch! I've never been able to do one that nice (or even half that nice.....) AND you caught it on camera with a timer? you have some mad skills!

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  7. Nice toe touch! It's been years since I did one of those...I might hurt myself. Of course I'm going to have to go try now. :-)

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  8. Nice toe touch!! I tried to click the link and read the article, but I get an error message. Do you have a corrected link?

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  9. Ok, just a little bit impressed with that move! Holy cow.

    Yeah, love that study and ones like it. Sometimes I wish I carried them around in my back pocket to give to people when they claim that nonsense!

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  10. That is a super awesome pic! I can do it on the trampoline... not sure about the ground. :)

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  11. Thanks for sharing the info about the knees, I had read an article along those lines earlier and was relieved. My mother had bilateral knee replacements in her 50's, which makes me a littler nervous, but at this point in m life, it is totally worth it to me.

    Great splits shot!!!

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  12. Thanks for the knee info! I get tired of justifying running to knee-phobics....

    And, who can I talk to about getting over staffed? I would really like a day off :-)

    You're rocking those pics! I can't believe you did that jump....

    Rock on...

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  13. Great picture... you are awesome!

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  14. Christy!!!! You must enter that picture in fastcorys jumping picture contest. fastcory.blogspot.com. Go enter it right now!! It is freaking awesome!!! Ahh this picture just brought back so many HS memories. ha ha

    Good job on the run and thanks for voting for me in the refuel contest. I will totally rally for you next month too!

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  15. Holy cow, look at that toe touch! Nice job!!

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  16. HOLY SMOKES!!!!! That's the best jumping shot ever! You are incredible!

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  17. Holy Moly! I think I pulled a muscle just thinking about doing that! (and overstaffed????How freakish? I only had 6 pts last night...thought I'd entered the twilight zone;D)

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  18. Honestly...no muscles were hurt? I think I speak for the majority when I say this: If I tried to do a toe touch there would be lots of muscles hurting. Wow!

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  19. What a jump! I like your new blog header pic!

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  20. Impressive on the splits air photo! Doesn't surprise me it took you that many takes, haha

    And that is great about that article about knees. Seems like it is somewhat of a balancing act - you can't push your knees over the edge with too much running, but it seems like running can help them stay in good shape.

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  21. holy cow....white girl can jump!

    i sure hope running is good for your knees, because genetics are not on my side!!!

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  22. I am so impressed with your self timer skills! I can barely manage a normal facial expression! :)

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  23. HOLY SMOKES!
    Nice toe-touch picture!
    WOW!!!!

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  24. I have never been able to do that! So cool! You should enter that photo in Fast Cory's jump photo contest.

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  25. I definitely would have torn something if I even attempted that!!!

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  26. I agree with you! The more you run and exercise the better you feel. Great pics and toe touch!!

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  27. Great toe touch. Ironic seeing this right after taking my daughter to the bus stop wearing her first "school cheer" uniform :)

    Off to check out your giveaway!

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  28. Haha! That last picture is AWESOME!! And yes, I have heard that running is actually GOOD for your knees! Love this post :)

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  29. I am jealous of what you consider is your "inflexibility." Hehe! I could never come close to doing a toe touch! Maybe a calf touch! LOL!

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