There are a lot of myths about knee pain, one of those being that exercise makes knee pain worse. While its somewhat true that exercise can cause further strain to joints but that only happens if the exercise you are doing is not moderate. Most obese people tend to complain that exercise adds more pressure to their knee and therefore causes more pain and tears over time that though is untrue.
A new study that was carried out by Boston University put this relation between knee pain and exercise to the test. The study was done across a mix of 1200 men and women who had knee problems. They divided participants into three groups: sedentary, those who walked six or more miles weekly, and those who walked less than six miles a week for exercise.
Among those who did no exercise, 7.5% got knee arthritis, 4.9% of those who walked less than 6 miles a week also got knee arthritis with symptoms, along with 6.4% of those who walked 6 or more miles a week, but what was interesting was that these numbers were so small that they were insignificant to say that exercise was the primary cause.
In most cases physiologists recommend that those who suffer from knee problems go out and exercise. To minimize the risk of problems, however, exercisers should increase their exercise distance very gradually, then increase speed, rather than both at once. In addition good workout shoes matched to your activity — walking, jogging, aerobics, or hiking — are crucial and should be replaced every 3-6 months if you are exercising regularly, he says.
Overall exercise in moderation is the right way to go about knee pain for even those who overweight or obese. Too much of anything is adverse for the human body and that’s why most who suffer from knee pain usually start off with walks and progress to light jogging.