The Association of Recreational and Competitive Running With Hip and Knee Osteoarthritis: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Alentorn-Geli E, Samuelsson K, Musahl V, et al. · Journal of Orthopaedic and Sports Physical Therapy

Hip/knee OA prevalence: 3.5% in recreational runners vs 10.2% in sedentary controls vs 13.3% in competitive runners — a U-shaped dose-response where moderate load looks protective and extreme load harmful.

Population

125,810 individuals across 25 studies of runners and non-runners

Intervention

Competitive/elite-volume running vs recreational running

Comparator

Sedentary non-runners

Limitations

Observational studies with heterogeneous OA definitions; healthy-runner selection bias; 'competitive' volume poorly standardized. NOTE: if the exercise shard re-adds this id, keep exactly one copy.