Running causes inflammation and soreness in joints, and it the price one pay for cardiovascular health. All of us know, no pains no gains. Well, it may or may not. Many studies are conducted to study whether running leads to inflammation in joints or reduces it. BYU exercise science professors conducted a study which explains that running lower the joint inflammation because pro-inflammatory molecules actually go down in the knee joint after running.

Matt Seeley, an associate professor of exercise science at BYU and co-author of this study proclaimed that, "It flies in the face of intuition. This idea that long-distance running is bad for your knees might be a myth. This study does not indicate that distance runners are any more likely to get osteoarthritis than any other person.”

The above study is recently published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology. Dr. Eric Robinson from Inter Mountain Healthcare, Seeley and a group of BYU colleagues, inflammation markers in the synovial fluid of joints in various healthy men and women with a age group of 18-35 were measured both before and after running. The researchers found that the specific cytokine markers named GM-CSF and IL-4 extracted in the synovial fluid were found to decrease in concentration after 30 minutes of running. When the same fluids were extracted before and after in a non-running condition, the inflammation markers were present in a similar concentration.

According to Robert Hyldahl, an assistant professor of exercise science at BYU and lead author of study, “What we now know is that for young, healthy individuals, exercise creates an anti-inflammatory environment that may be beneficial in terms of long-term joint health. Instead, this study suggests exercise can be a type of medicine". Hyldahl explains that running is protective for chondrocytes which means that exercise may help to delay the onset of joint degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis. This is potentially a great news, since osteoarthritis is the most painful disease in which cartilage present at the end of bones wears down and slowly worsens over time. It affects about 27 million people in the United States.

In future researchers including undergraduate student Alyssa Evans and PhD student Sunku Kwon, planned to turn their attention towards previous knee injuries. Specifically, they're looking to do similar tests on people who are suffering from ACL injuries.