If you’ve reached middle age and you’re exercising – congratulations, you’re doing something that’s so good for your body and your mind. But don’t overdo it as some new research suggesting that overdoing those workouts might just be putting you at increased risk of arthritis.
The U.S. study of more than 200 normal weight, middle aged subjects found that those doing the most in terms of exercising were also the most likely to have signs of knee damage.
No one is suggesting this is a reason to stop exercising because there’s no denying the many benefits of being active on a regular basis. The good news is that for most of us, being active isn’t a problem. When it comes to joint health, running and jumping are believed to be the most damaging to cartilage and ligaments, while swimming and cycling are easier on these areas.
The findings of this research were presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America where more than 60,000 medical and science pros from around the world gather to attend refresher courses and scientific presentations.
The study included (136 women; 100 men) subjects aged 45 to 55 years old who hadn’t reported any earlier knee pain. Using a questionnaire that evaluated how much exercise they did, the team divided them into low, middle and high activity groups.
High activity people did several hours of walking, sports or other exercises a week, along with other housework or work in the yard. The subjects then had MRI scans of the knee so the researchers could look for any tears, lesions or other abnormalities in the cartilage and ligaments.
The damage they saw was linked to activity levels and was not tied to age or gender. It also seemed to be associated with the type of exercise a subject did, though this needs to be investigated further.
For instance 93% of those in the high activity groups had cartilage damage, while only 60% in the low activity group had any trouble here. What’s more, cartilage damage was three times more severe in those who were part of the high activity group.
Leader of the study Dr. Christoph Stehling, a researcher at the University of California, San Francisco explains, “Our data suggest that people with higher physical activity levels may be at greater risk for developing knee abnormalities and, thus, at higher risk for developing osteoarthritis.
“This study and previous studies by our group suggest that high impact, weight-bearing physical activity, such as running and jumping, may be worse for cartilage health. Conversely, low-impact activities, such as swimming and cycling, may protect diseased cartilage and prevent healthy cartilage from developing disease.”
Osteoarthritis is the most common form of arthritis, affecting about 27 million Americans according to the CDC, and is a degenerative joint disease that brings pain, stiffness and swelling. Where once it was considered a “wear and tear” type of arthritis, today the thinking is that there are many more things than your age and use that contribute to the development of this condition.
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Exercisers -Too Much Of A Good Thing Continued…
More common in women than men, the risk of osteoarthritis goes up as you get older or put on weight. Of course experts agree that the benefits of exercise for this condition and your overall health far outweigh any risk… but proceed with caution.
You may have heard that exercising when you have arthritis is a bad thing, but experts believe that appropriate exercise is one of the best ways to manage the condition and strengthen your joints.
If you’ve had a joint injury, or torn cartilage or ligaments you need to be careful about the exercise you do.
Talk with your doctor to see if some weight bearing exercises might be okay for you, as well as giving swimming and cycling a try. Researchers will continue to follow the participants who took part in this study to see who develops arthritis and if the level of activity has any impact on risk of disease.
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