[increment_i]

After 30 years of running, I can attest to the irreversible damage caused to knees, shins, and other joints and ligaments due to running on paved and other man made surfaces. A good alternative as you get up in years is swimming and/or cycling or recumbent biking.

[beaumartinez]

I've always heard a lot of this is due to improper running technique, since shoe technology shifted to a heavily-padded heel. This in turn made people more likely to land on the heel, which sends the shock right up the leg, into the knee.

Barefoot running, and less padded shoes, promote landing on the balls of your feet (as otherwise it's incredibly painful!). Landing on the balls of your feet allows your foot to reduce the force that gets shot up the leg.

[elwell]

Running barefoot on pavement in the city doesn't work very well. Every time I try it for a significant journey, I can barely walk for a week due to blisters and small glass fragments. Also, people, rightly, stare at me like I'm insane.

[meritt]

Just get some "barefoot" shoes. I use merrell trail glove.

[t4ngent]

Agreed, merrell trail gloves are great shoes. I run 60-70km per week in them.

I highly recommend barefoot style shoes in general, but you do have to acclimate to them slowly while you build up your foot strength.

After building foot strength in 'barefoot' shoes, I can now run much faster in any kind of shoe.

[uberalex]

How do they compare to Vibrams? I tried to get a pair of KSO or Bikila last time I was in the USA, but all the shops have stopped stocking them since the company settled a lawsuit.

[kazinator]

Some years ago I did a bunch of barefoot running on rubber running tracks. I had some blistering from that, but otherwise it's okay. It feels great. I wouldn't go on roads and trails; that's just asking for a nasty cut and infection. With time, you probably build up some thick skin from that which protects you.

If you want an almost barefoot like experience, just get very light shoes, like middle-distance spikes, and train on tracks some of the time. Then do your long, easy miles in cushioned road shoes like a normal person.

By the way, my father recalls seeing Abebe Bikila win the 1961 Košice Peace Marathon, barefoot.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ko%C5%A1ice_Peace_Marathon

[hawkice]

My first attempt at barefoot running on cement was a 5k -- the blisters are killer. Couldn't even stand without fairly extreme pain.

I think the notion is to work your way up a lot slower than I did, but I haven't made the same attempt again.

[dont_be_mean]

That's it. Learn to run on the balls of your feet. It reduces the shock to the knees by such an amount that I can't run in any other way now.

[djtriptych]

I ran pain-free for years on concrete in vibram toe shoes. I ended up convincing myself that one needs to re-learn how to run, but that it is indeed possible to run even on hard surfaces if your technique is efficient enough.

edit: An excellent video showing the subtleties of perfect form: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTMgIViinuQ

[jsankey]

It's not clear that running makes joint problems any more likely, in general, see:

http://www.npr.org/2011/03/28/134861448/put-those-shoes-on-r...

For example, keeping joints active with weight bearing exercise reduces the likelihood of developing arthritis. As other comments have mentioned, a common problem is overtraining, and especially starting out too fast. Patience is required to build up the strength and technique required to maximise benefits while minimising the risk of injury.

[uberalex]

All sports have complications. Swimmers can get shoulder issues and tendinitis (http://physioworks.com.au/Injuries-Conditions/Activities/swi...). Cyclists can suffer overuse injury, but also seem at risk of getting mown down by traffic (admittedly a general risk, but it seems a higher one for regular bike users) http://physioworks.com.au/Injuries-Conditions/Activities/cyc...

I suspect it's a matter of cross-training, of trying to do some compensating weight training, and luck.

[perlpimp]

I run and visit the gym without gym, gym gives me great posture. Working at the desk most of the day it is hard to keep muscles on your back to support yourself while running at least it is the case for me. Everyone has different diet, genetics...

[chatmasta]

I ran 4 years of D1 cross country. Can confirm. The oft-repeated trope is "concrete is 12x harder than soft surface grass." Not sure how true that is or how the physics work, but stay away from roads. Run on the dirt on the side of them.

[acadien]

Do you (or anybody) have evidence to support this? Genuinely curious since everything I've read shows that surface doesn't matter. I understand this result is counter-intuitive but I was under the impression its a well documented result.

[chatmasta]

Nothing beyond personal experience and knowing my own body. After you run every day for 8 years of your life you tend to notice little differences in how you feel day-to-day. For example, it's not a coincidence that after three months in Houston running on only pavement, I had far more ankle/knee/plantar pains than after a season of running on trails. Also, trails have the added benefit of activating a greater diversity of muscles in your feet, because you need to "dance around the roots."

[elwell]

I would rather run on a level surface even if it is harder. You can hurt your knee or ankle rather quickly running through some fields; but that's part of the experience I guess.

[cha5e]

Running on an uneven running surface isn't bad for you at all. Most people run primarily on the roads - so if they encounter a long path with uneven terrain - the ancillary muscles that control stabilization generally tire more quickly. It's all about transitioning slowly and letting the muscles, that haven't been used very often, strengthen.

[dazc]

And also avoid running downhill.

[elwell]

Yes, running uphill is a better workout and it feels better on the knees.

[redgrange]

why? downhills are free.

[seanmcdirmid]

Not on your knees. Downhill running (and hiking) is also more anaerobic (stopping your self from falling) than aerobic (working to move up).

[chatmasta]

If you're stopping yourself from falling when running downhill, you're doing it wrong. You should be "leaning into" the hill, which is counterintuitive and feels like you're going to fall, but is way better for your knees and also faster than stopping yourself.

[seanmcdirmid]

That only works for some grades. The grades in the Bay Area are pretty steep. If you leaned into the downward slope, you would be on your face in a few seconds.

[cha5e]

You may have just misspoken but it'd be almost impossible to get any anaerobic training out of downhill running. You might be doing some muscle strengthening though.

[seanmcdirmid]

You can definitely get an anaerobic workout from downhill hiking. Running on pavement not so much, but you do use muscles to keep from falling down.

[huherto]

I got this when I got hurt. I love it.

http://www.elliptigo.com/