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New Studies on Your Knees and Exercise

Running and Squats actually strengthen your Knees

By Frank RacioppiPublished 4 years ago 6 min read
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Image by happyveganfit from Pixabay

People who run on a regular basis and people who are thinking of running as a cardio exercise are often told by those who have good intentions, “running and exercise like squats will ruin your knees.”

The joys of running can often be offset by inflammation and soreness but that's all part of lacing up our running shoes and hitting the asphalt. In fact, runners are often fatalistic about eventual knee injuries due to the miles logged from running.

In the studies cited below, you should be able to see evidence that indeed the counterfactual is true. Done correctly, running and squatting can actually strengthen your knees and the surrounding components like the meniscus.

The needs of the knee

In the study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology, researchers measured inflammation markers in the knee joint fluid of several healthy men and women aged 18-35, both before and after running.

This new research from these exercise science professors finds that pro-inflammatory molecules actually go down in the knee joint after running.

In other words, it appears running can reduce joint inflammation.

The researchers found that the specific markers they were looking for in the extracted synovial fluid -- two cytokines named GM-CSF and IL-15 -- decreased in concentration in the subjects after 30 minutes of running. When the same fluids were extracted before and after a non-running condition, the inflammation markers stayed at similar levels.

Researchers posit that exercise creates an anti-inflammatory environment that may be beneficial in terms of long-term joint health.

Study results indicate running is chondroprotective, which means exercise may help delay the onset of joint degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis.

This is potentially great news, since osteoarthritis -- the painful disease where cartilage at the end of bones wears down and gradually worsens over time -- affects about 27 million people in the United States.

Researchers now plan to turn their attention to study subjects with previous knee injuries. Specifically, they're looking to do similar tests on people who have suffered ACL injuries.

Cut or run

According to a new study, three out of four people could avoid knee surgery with a new form of exercise therapy, with significant cost savings for society.

Injury to the menisci, the cartilaginous discs within the knee joint, can be painful when running, and can cause the knee to give way or 'lock'. Such injuries are troublesome and sometimes painful and can prevent you from exercising or attending work.

A total of 140 patients with meniscus injuries in Norway and Denmark took part in the study. They drew lots for treatment with either exercise or surgery.

However, those who had exercised had developed greater muscular strength. This is consistent with previous research, which showed that surgery yielded no additional benefits for patients who had had exercise therapy.

The current study is the first to compare cases where the patient had only exercise therapy or only surgery.

In 2015 almost 11,000 people in Norway underwent arthroscopic meniscus repair, a form of keyhole surgery. However, the general trend is to place more patients on exercise therapy and hold off on surgery.

Although exercise therapy also has costs, these are lower than for surgery. Reducing the number of surgical meniscus repairs would thus lead to significant savings for society.

In the study, the patients attended training sessions with a physiotherapist 2-3 times a week for 12 weeks. Each patient receives a personalized training program, and learns to do the exercises under the supervision of a physiotherapist. Once they have learned the exercises, they train on their own but attend weekly sessions with the physiotherapist for adjustments and to be given new exercises.

How low can you go

Many people squat regularly as part of their workout routine or during everyday tasks. Squatting correctly should not cause knee pain. Squatting delivers multiple benefits for those who do it correctly on a regular basis. It can strengthen your core, offers a cardio component and builds significant lower body strength in the quadriceps, hamstrings, and calves. More important, squatting is a large muscle exercise that promotes body-wide muscle building, improving muscle mass

However, people who squat incorrectly and those with a knee injury or existing knee condition may experience knee pain. If people are not squatting correctly, they may experience knee pain. Performing this movement incorrectly can put pressure on the knees rather than the thigh muscles and glutes.

In today’s fitness centers, many people are instructed to squat to parallel to avoid injuries to the lower extremities. A new study from Italy reveals that this “conventional wisdom” may not be accurate because parallel squats can actually cause more of a risk to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) and posterior cruciate ligament (PCL). The squatting depth of the general population varies based on a person’s knee pain. Squatting depths vary from different angles, such as “ regular squats between 60°-70°, a half-squat between 80°-100°, a quarter squat between 110°-140°, and a deep squat between 40°-45°”

New research suggests that “the deep squat presents an effective training exercise for protection against injuries and strengthening lower extremities”

In addition to knee pain, the squatting depth can affect the amount force put on the knee. The amount of force put on the knee can cause an individual to not squat as low as they desire due to discomfort. Individuals have various squatting depths to produce more or less force on the knee. One study suggests that peak ACL forces occur between 15°-30° of flexion, which decreases significantly at 60° and levels off after higher flexion angles. The greatest forces on the knee will occur with a knee angle between a regular and deep squat.

To increase and strengthen stability of the knee, squatting deep is the appropriate exercise to execute. Occasionally, athletes and the general population need to alternate between parallel squats and deep squats to improve the stability of their knee. The deep squat creates the full range of motion to the knee requiring extra stability.

The study concludes that for people with sound knees, the deep squat is better for reducing pain and injuries, discovering the appropriate force for an individual’s knee, and increasing and strengthening the stability of the knee. Squatting deep has shown significant benefits in many studies about the joints of the knee. If executed correctly, squatting deep can give the knees more stability and strength, which will ultimately let exercisers know the amount of force to use and reduce pain and injuries when fully completing the deep squats.

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In recent years, evidence-based medicine has contradicted decades of conventional wisdom that your knees will inevitably be damaged by running or squatting on a routine basis. In fact, these new studies suggest with evidence to support their conclusions that running and squatting – when performed with good form – can actually strengthen your knees and surrounding knee components like the meniscus.

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About the Creator

Frank Racioppi

I am a South Jersey-based author who is a writer for the Ear Worthy publication, which appears on Vocal, Substack, Medium, Blogger, Tumblr, and social media. Ear Worthy offers daily podcast reviews, recommendations, and articles.

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