Potentially dangerous exercises...

[InfiniteNow]

My dentures, specs, hearing aid, artificial leg, the replacement plastic kneecap on the other leg, and my pacemaker! :singer: Without any of these, I would've been dead as a doornail ages ago!

Never met a dog with a bar in it's leg, huh?

 

Although I countered your point, I found it very humerous all the same. :)

 

:girl_hug:

[somasimple]

Hmm,

 

I'll be a bit provocative with the following statement:

 

There is no dangerous exercice, only unwary men/women.

[Boerseun]

There are issues with hardening of the cartilage between vertebrae in your spine and even your knees & hips that comes from repeated impact. This could be caused by running over the years, where every time your foot makes contact with the ground, the whole interconnected system from your ankle to your neck gets compacted.

 

This might not be noticeable before, say, your early forties, but the way we were designed, you would've had already procreated more than sufficiently to keep the population figures going - that's why I said in an earlier post in this thread that if running is indeed detrimental to humans, it won't be weeded out by evolution. So the argument that running is good for us because we were clearly built to stand up straight and, indeed, run, doesn't hold much water. We have evolved brains as well, and in looking around you, you can see incredible displays of humans avoiding the use of that organ all over the world, every day.

[somasimple]

Hi,

 

I do not agree.

Our body is son of evolution and pretty quite well designed. The problem comes with its use.

 

It is like a car. You could have the best car but if you drive it like a mad man (or do not know how to drive it), there is many chances that your perfect car will crash quickly!

[Tormod]

How healthy is running, in any case?

 

In the old days (bla bla bla)

 

Running is healthy when done correctly. It is probably still healthy when done wrong, but it can be damaging to the body.

 

I am reading an interesting book called "chi running" which discusses how to run "naturally" with less effort and less injury. It is a very interesting read (none of the quasi religious philosophy mumbo jumbo that some "natural" fitness books tend to have).

 

For example, it calls "normal" running power running: the tendency to want to build big muscles to run longer and faster. However, when you look at who runs longest and fastest (ie, Kenyan marathoners, for example) they are thin as sticks.

 

All forms of exercise require training and good form. Running is no exception.

 

Does running leave any long-term effects? Do you know of any? Do you feel any soreness in joints or in your spine after running quite a distance?

 

Good health is one of them. And the sense of achievement that comes from finishing a long rung.

 

Among physical problems I experience achilles problems (sore and/or inflamed achilles at times), stiff muscles, lower back pain. But then I am an asphalt warrior who prefers to run on roads. :lol:

[somasimple]

Tormod,

 

That is just what I try to teach to the patients.

Avoid strength use light walking and running. Do not use energy, uses gravity and inertia.

 

Ps: It is normal in these conditions that your back hurts and having Achilles tendons problems. Perhaps the contrary was true? Did your back was painful prior running?

[InfiniteNow]

Bipedal locomation is just a series of controlled falls. Running causes us to fall faster and more.

 

To Boerseun's point, there's a bit of an inverted U-curve which describes the effects of running on health (not that I have a source, but it exists in my head... :hihi:). The x-axis shows amount of time running w/o regard for shoes/form/surface, and the y-axis shows impact on health.

 

 

 

EDIT: I would have done better to show a greater slope closer to the axis, then a smoothing out, but still with increasing slope, then eventually a gradual decline, but not all the way down, again plateauing a bit... Like the below (sorry, did this in about 15 seconds :D ):

 

[HydrogenBond]

Running is less harmful if one is light or thin. Problems to the joints and back can result if one begins running while carrying too much weight. It might be better to walk, until the extra weight is lost and the joints are able to strengthen up gradually to some pre-running stress. Walking may be the exercise that the human body was designed for. Running may have been for hunting and excaping being hunted. War may have taken it to another level. Then sport.

 

The late Rodney Dangerfield said, "Me, I never run. If you see me running you know the laxitive is working".