How to Keep Running With Arthritis Pain

As we live longer and scientists find cures for all kinds of health conditions, we can be lulled into a false sense of security thinking that if we can put it off long enough, we can dodge most of the diseases, and nurse almost any injury back to health.

Anyone can take up running, right?

That it is never too late, and 60, 70, 80, even 90 year olds have taken up running and added years to their lives by doing so, but is this for everyone?

Our friend Brad Beer believes that everyone can run pain free, if they follow the five steps outlined in our podcast episode with him, but what about those health conditions that are not caused by running and spell the end of a running career?

What if you already have started to notice the symptoms of one of the most dreaded (and painful) health conditions in older individuals; arthritis?

Can you keep running with arthritis in your knee, hip, back?

It can strike anywhere, and make daily life a struggle, let alone choosing to put more strain on. If you were not previously a runner, is it always going to be just an unattainable dream if the painful symptoms have already set in?

As arthritis begins to take hold of more and more of our population, these are just a few of the questions that come up.

Today, we are going to look at what the science has found about arthritis (although we wish we had better news to report), and then suggest what you can do to limit the progression if you are experiencing symptoms so you can get out there.

Maybe not as much as you would like, but something, and we all know that in running, even just a few moments of simple, enjoyable running is enough to bring a smile to our faces all day, especially if you follow our tips to limit and possibly even make it slightly better.

Slight improvements are better than getting worse, right?

How Does Arthritis Affect Runners?

There is a long list of running injuries I hope to never get—and let’s be honest, we all perhaps foolishly hope we don’t get any injuries—but arthritis surely resides at or near the top.

More properly referred to as osteoarthritis (to distinguish it from other forms of joint inflammation), the progressive, degenerative deterioration of the cartilage and bone in a joint is commonly viewed as a death sentence to a runner’s career.

Does exercise make arthritis better or worse?

First, some good news:

Though osteoarthritis of the knee and hip affect 6% and 4% of the adult population, respectively,¹ most research shows that runners are not at a higher risk for arthritis.

This is not the case with other sports, like soccer and weight lifting, which do appear to increase risk for knee osteoarthritis later in life.²

However, in these cases it can be difficult to disentangle the impact of acute injuries from the cumulative effects of joint loading in the sport.

Soccer players, for example, often suffer traumatic knee injuries like ACL tears, which are known to vastly increase your risk of developing knee osteoarthritis.³
The effects of exercise by itself on arthritis risk generally appear to be neutral—according to researchers David J. Hunter and Felix Eckstein, “there is no good evidence supporting a deleterious effect of exercise on joints in the setting of normal joints and moderate activity.”⁴

Is my running career over if I develop arthritis?

However, runners aren’t immune from arthritis either, and the prevalence of the disease increases with age.

According to data gathered by David T. Felson and Yuqing Zhang at Boston University and Boston Medical Center, rates of osteoarthritis skyrocket after age 50.¹

For example, the rate of knee osteoarthritis in women increases six-fold when comparing women aged 40-49 to women aged 60-69.

If you are a runner who’s getting into this age range and starting to suffer from the early stages of osteoarthritis somewhere in your lower body, is it game over for your running career?

Unfortunately, most scientific authorities say yes.

Hunter and Eckstein advise that, while low-impact aerobic exercise like walking, biking, and swimming help with arthritis pain, high-impact activities like running and step-aerobics should be “actively discouraged.”⁴

Likewise, a 2004 paper by researchers in Finland advises that exercise programs for patients with osteoarthritis “should not include high-impact loads or high injury risk.”⁵

Will strengthening exercises make it better or worse?

There is some hope that, with proper rehabilitation and therapy exercises, you may be able to continue to do some light running for a while longer, assuming running does not aggravate your pain.

A scientific article published by Vijay Vad and colleagues in the journal Sports Medicine suggests that a careful rehabilitation program, which combines leg strength exercises, anti-inflammatory drugs, and stretching can enable someone with mild knee osteoarthritis to continue to engage in sport without harmful effects.⁶

The researchers propose a five-stage rehab program that gradually allows you to return to your sport of choice, though even Vad et al. caution that careful supervision by a doctor or therapist is necessary to ensure that you are not returning to sport too quickly.

Further, it’s clear that high-impact, heavy-load exercise is still probably a bad idea—so set your sights on jogging for leisure, not training hard following a marathon training schedule.

This is probably not the news you were hoping to hear, but sadly, it’s the current state of the science.

How can I keep training if I do have arthritis?

Because cartilage lacks substantial regenerative healing capabilities, damage and degeneration that results from osteoarthritis is not reversible—yet.

Given how many Americans suffer from arthritis of the knee and hip, developing medical interventions that can halt or reverse osteoarthritis is something of a holy grail in biomedical research.

With some luck, a game-changing treatment may emerge someday.

Until then, don’t risk further damage to your body by disregarding pain and continuing to train hard if you know you have arthritis in your lower body.

It may be possible to continue to do some light running if you work with your doctor and physical therapist to develop a rehab program that prevents or slows further damage to the joint, but don’t try to do this without expert guidance!

If there’s any silver lining, it’s that cross-training activities like biking, swimming, and pool running are great for improving your quality of life if you have arthritis, and they’ll keep you in good shape, too.

What Can Be Done to Help Osteoarthritis From Getting Worse?

So there you have it.

Your doctor has broken your heart, telling you that your running days are mostly over, as reversal of treatments is not yet possible, and your condition will continue to get worse, is there anything that can be done to prolong those precious running years?

Yes, and although they are not going to mean you can jump back to your youthful running days, they may just slow the degeneration, and allow you to get a few more runs in before you are required to live through the up and coming runners.

Here are 6 additional tips to limit the damage to your body that arthritis can do:

Eat more fats (the good kind!)

Yes, fat has been given a bad reputation in the past, but it is actually one of the best ways to calm your arthritis inflammation, especially if you consume it through more omega-3 fatty acids in fish like salmon, tuna, sardines, herring, anchovies, scallops and other cold-water fish . These foods help to protect the body against some of the inflammatory effects associated with osteoarthritis.

Not a fan of fish? Olive oil, walnuts, pine nuts, pistachios and almonds are also great for reducing inflammation.

That being said, not all fats are going to help your arthritis symptoms, those foods high in omega-6 fatty acids may even cause more joint inflammation. Try to limit your consumption of meat, cheese, cooking oils, processed foods, fried foods, peanuts, and soy, especially if you are overweight.

Most runners do not fall into the obese category of overweight, but if you have a little weight that could be lost, it will reduce the stress on your joints, which will ease off your pain.

Anti-inflammatory foods

It is not ideal for anyone to be on constant pain medication for the rest of their lives. Not only will your body become used to it and require more to reduce symptoms, but more importantly, none of us want to be pumping ourselves with drugs unless we have to.

Nature has created some fantastic anti-inflammatory foods that will not only alleviate your pain, but will help your body in other ways. This includes:

• Ginger
• Turmeric
• Tart cherry
• Blueberries
• Spinach
• Kale
• Broccoli
• Tomatoes
• Beets
• Bok choy
• Bone broth
• Chia seeds
• Flax seeds

Try to add these foods to your diet as much as possible, and see if you find it helps you feel better.

Contrast baths

We covered this in detail in another post, but contrast baths can be a great option for joint pain and distraction during bouts of severe arthritis pain.

And besides, who doesn’t enjoy a nice warm bath on a cold winters day or a nice cold shower on a steamy summers day.

Massage

Need another excuse to book a weekly massage?

The Arthritis Foundation reported that regular massage of muscles and joints, whether by a licensed therapist at a spa or by self-massage at home, can lead to a significant reduction in pain for people with arthritis.

After a massage, your body will produce serotonin, which improves mood, and will stop producing as much cortisol (your stress hormone).

This will help you to get that ideal 8 hours of sleep that Dr James Maas said was critical to health, and feel better when you arise in the morning.

Dry needling

One of the more recent forms of treatment for runners, dry needling has become very popular within the elite running world, but it has also been found to be effective for joint pain.

Dry needling can hit a series of trigger points around the joints, which is effective in reducing the pain associated with arthritis.

But before you do:

It is very painful, but if you find that it relieves your symptoms, it is a pain most runners are prepared to suffer through.

Vitamin D

We hear more and more about the importance of vitamin D.

It seems as though the sun is important to us for more reasons than we realized. We know that maintaining vitamin D levels is critically important to runners, and some studies have even found it can increase performance, but can vitamin D also prevent arthritis?

A study by Kostoglou-Athanassiou, Ifigenia et al found reduced vitamin D intake has been linked to increased susceptibility to the development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and vitamin D deficiency has been found to be associated with disease activity in patients with RA.

Arthritis is painful, frustrating, and progressive.

Does it mean the end of a running career?

Unfortunately, science says yes, but you can slow it using our tips to prolong your training and run as long as possible.