Skipping - an exercise many people have not tried since their school days - may be a great grown-up workout because it puts less stress on the knees than running while burning more calories, a study suggests.
Despite the many health benefits of running, the number of running-related injuries is on the rise, and as many as 79 per cent of runners report injuries in any given year, researchers noted in Gait & Posture. Injuries to the knees and lower extremities are common because running produces large amounts of force on the body with every stride - and because runners often develop repetitive stress injuries by allowing insufficient recovery time.
The study looked at the contact force on the knee for 20 young adults when they ran and skipped at the same speed. Compared with skipping, running produced almost twice the average peak force on the patella or kneecap in the front of the knee joint. It also produced almost 30 per cent greater average peak force on the tibiofemoral joint, or the knee hinge formed between three bones: femur, tibia and patella.