High-impact exercise: A good remedy for knee pain?

Got sore knees? Better to keep it low impact, right?

Not so fast. Pain caused by thinning cartilage around the knee joint,aka osteoarthritis, plagues more than a third of women over age 60. But a new study suggests that regular high-impact exercise may help to get rid of pain, rather than cause it.

For the study, published in the journal Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise, women aged 50 to 65 with knee pain on most days of the week did aerobic, step aerobic, and jumping exercises three times a week for a year. By the end of the study, the exercise group had improved cartilage quality compared to the control group who kept up with their usual activities and attended periodic lectures about healthy living.

That said, high-impact exercise isn't for everybody. While study after study has failed to find evidence that running causes osteoarthritis, runners who regularly run through injuries and pain may be harming their knees after all. At 33, I pay a lot of attention to my knees. While Ive been fortunate not to have had to deal with many injuries over the years, I have recently noticed some new aches and pains, and I want to do everything in my power to ward them off so I can keep running for the next 33 years and beyond.

I believe its all about prevention, something the research supports. It's a lot easier to prevent deterioration of knee cartilage than it is to repair damage done, the authors in the recent study note. That means continuing to challenge myself to switch up my autopilot running workouts to include things like cycling and swimming.

The other key: strength train regularly. Yesterday I skipped myusual six miles in favor of a circuit workout at the YMCA: Sets of (high impact!) plyometric exercises like box jumps and burpees, classic squatsand lunges, balance-focused one-legged squats, and core work interspersed with fast laps around the indoor track. All told I only logged about three miles including my warm-up and cool-down, but I know that I got a far more effective—and knee protective—workout for my time. New goal: to do this once a week plus a cross training workout with weights on the weekend. I have to admit, my burpees were pretty wimpy and Im pretty sore today so Ive got plenty of room for improvement!