Introduction: Running has many beneficial health effects, but it can also lead to overload injuries affecting the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones in the lower limbs. Osteoarthritis is the most common form of joint disease that occurs as a result of wear and tear of the articular cartilage, which can cause the bones to be in direct contact with each other, causing pain and stiffness. Osteoarthritis is thought to develop after excessive physiological loading of healthy joint structures or normal loading of damaged or weakened joint structures. Purpose: The purpose of the thesis is to determine, based on a review of the literature, whether running can be a risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis in the knee. Methods: The literature search was conducted in the PubMed, PEDro, Science Direct and CINAHL databases. Key words: running, osteoarthritis, running and osteoarthritis, running causes osteoarthritis, running and cartilage. The research was selected on the basis of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Results: Seven studies examining the response of the knee joint to running were included in the literature review. Training protocols in three studies included a single 30-minute run according to the abilities of each subject. Other research has looked at how running affects the articular cartilage compared to jumping from a height of 73 cm, how articular cartilage responds to 5, 10 and 20 km of running, how 10 and 12 weeks of running training compared to other sports activities affects articular cartilage. The results of six reviewed studies showed that the thickness and/or volume and T2 values of the knee cartilage decreased after running. One study found that 10 weeks of running training increased the content of glucosaminoglycans in knee cartilage. Discussion and Conclusion: Six studies have shown that running reduces the thickness and/or volume of articular cartilage. One study showed that running has a protective effect on the knee joint as it increases the amount of glucosaminoglycans in the joint cartilage. Due to the small number of studies, the relatively small number of subjects in the studies and the different research methodologies, we cannot conclude with certainty that running is a risk factor for the development of osteoarthritis in the knee.
|