As a physiotherapist, I regularly deal with insecure patients when it comes to joint cartilage and load. The conviction that stress in the form of sporting activities or exercise in general is harmful to the joint cartilage and leads more quickly to arthrosis or aggravates existing complaints is still widespread.
This fundamentally contradicts the recommendations of international guidelines which are based on a large amount of high-quality scientific knowledge. It shows that an active lifestyle with sufficient exercise and sporting activity must be used as effective measures both for existing complaints and as a prevention.
Nevertheless, I still hear the following statement from my patients: "I am afraid of doing too much and damage the cartilage".
Here is an example: leisure runners have a significantly lower rate of arthrosis (3.5%) than inactive people (10.2%) and competitive runners (13.3%).
So remember: The optimum lies between the extremes. Yours Dominik
