It messes with your knees and heel. When you take a step during a run, your leg lands with your entire body slamming into it.
There are ways to run that are less damaging (better equipment, like socks and shoes, or using the technique where you largely only make contact using the balls of your feet), but it doesn't change the fact of a shock happening.
That said, it's unlikely to be so damaging to you as to outweigh its benefits. Swimming is better mostly because water has less resistance than the ground, and pushing off isn't really a shock to anything.
I looked into this quite a bit some years ago and found no research to suggest more cushioned shoes, less cushioned shoes, pronation-control shoes, barefoot running, etc. have any effect on injury rates. Are there recent studies or info that I missed on this topic?
> it's unlikely to be so damaging to you as to outweigh its benefits
It's even possible that all the shock and load bearing of running /is/ a benefit.
Running is associated with acute injuries of all sorts, but as others have commented does not correlate with osteoarthritis or other long term injuries.
There are ways to run that are less damaging (better equipment, like socks and shoes, or using the technique where you largely only make contact using the balls of your feet), but it doesn't change the fact of a shock happening.
That said, it's unlikely to be so damaging to you as to outweigh its benefits. Swimming is better mostly because water has less resistance than the ground, and pushing off isn't really a shock to anything.
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