Runners who run very long distances suffer cartilage damage in their lower joints — but the cartilage can regenerate, a small study suggests. The researchers also found that the runners had lost about 6 percent of their brain’s gray matter by the end of the race. But eight months later, their gray matter volume had returned to normal.
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The study included 44 runners taking part in the 2009 Trans Europe Foot Race, which involved running nearly 4,500 kilometers (about 2,800 miles) over two months without any days of rest.
“Interestingly, further testing indicated that ankle and foot cartilage have the ability to regenerate under ongoing endurance running,” said Dr. Uwe Schutz. He is a radiologist and specialist in orthopedics and trauma surgery in the department of diagnostic and interventional radiology at the University Hospital of Ulm, in Germany.
“The ability of cartilage to recover in the presence of loading impact has not been previously shown in humans. In general, we found no distance limit in running for the human joint cartilage in the lower extremities,” Schutz said in a society news release.
Research findings presented at meetings are viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.
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