Running Shoes May Strain Joints

Running shoes may put excessive strain on hip, knee, ankle joints.

The USA Today (1/4, Vergano) "Science Fair" blog reported, "Walking in high heels is easier on your knees and ankles than jogging in running shoes," according to a study published in the Dec. issue of the journal PM&R. In a study of "68 young adult runners, 37 of them women," whose "running motions" were observed "in treadmill and video studies," researchers from JKM Technologies LLC found that running shoes "put excessive strain on hip, knee, and ankle joints."
Still, the authors did not recommend running barefoot, the Los Angeles Times (1/4, Dennis) "Booster Shots" blog reported. "The use of athletic footwear in running as a means to protect the foot from acute injury and the potentially debilitating effect of switching to barefoot running on foot health excludes such an alternative," they wrote. Instead, they recommended "development of new footwear designs that encourage or mimic the natural compliance that normal foot function provides while minimizing knee and hip joint torques."
Researchers using stem cells in hopes of repairing damaged cartilage. On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (1/5, D1, Wang) reports on a study by researchers at the Cartilage Restoration Center at the University of Pittsburgh and Cornell University's veterinary school. There, scientists are experimenting with new methods of regenerating damaged cartilage tissue using stem cells. Researchers hope the therapy will be more effective than microfracture in repairing the damaged cartilage, which can lead to osteoarthritis. Fei Wang, director of the Musculoskeletal Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine Program at the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, noted the challenges of growing cartilage in humans, saying, "It's easy to generate a piece of tissue, but it's not so easy to generate a tissue that works."