It may seem counterintuitive, but runners have a lower risk of knee orthoarthritis than walkers do. A July 2013 study followed more than 75,000 runners and 14,000 walkers and found that runners had a lower overall risk of developing arthritis than walkers. Runners generate greater knee forces than walkers, but due to the longer strides of running, the net result is less overall load on the runners’ knees than on walkers’ knees. Although running doesn’t decrease the cause of ‘wear’ on the knee, it seems better than walking for delaying development of osteoarthritis.
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