Originally Posted by
MoAlpha
If you've got good mechanics, running is actually pretty benign to the knees. I didn't have any problems over a 35 yr career. I had plenty of tendon and muscle issues, though.
Oh, and it also destroyed my spine, I went numb and tingly from the neck down, and had to have big surgery, which is why I don't do it anymore, but that's a minor thing.
Same, ran track and cross country in high-school, kept on running and by my mid 20s couldn't walk without a noticeable shuffle and could only go up stairs a 1/2 step at a time. Picked up biking to stay active, but only been "serious" the last 5 years.
Good news is that the back somehow healed itself, slowly over a 5-15 year period without surgery. At one point I tried to break it good by playing 2 hours of fairly intense full court basketball every Saturday - somehow that seemed to be when it started to get better.