Walk the Talk… Running the Distance
Exercise for Science’s own Professor Hart to compete in the 2025 London Marathon
Our studies have shown us what marathon running can do for your joints. Now Prof Hart is going to experience what it’s really like, first-hand.
Professor Alister Hart will be running the London Marathon on 27th April 2025 at the age of 55 . It’s not his first time - he previously ran two marathons 13 years ago. Having suffered somewhat after the 26.2 mile run, the seed of a research idea was sown.
“I really found it difficult to walk for about two weeks after my first marathon,” said Prof Hart. “I assumed from that, that marathon running must be bad for our musculoskeletal system. But as an orthopaedic surgeon I wanted to know more, and that inspired the studies undertaken by the Exercise for Science team.”
Running is not bad for the joints
We have since done the largest MRI studies of marathoners, looking at their knees, hips and spine to see how marathon training affects them. Participants were MRI scanned four months before the marathon and again after the event.
Prof Hart said: I was somewhat surprised to find that the marathon did not cause damage to the joints. In fact, the training was shown to actually repair small tears and damage, particularly in the knees.”
Read the full results of the study:
Distance running and the knees
Marathon training and the spine
Effects of a first marathon on the hips
Raising funds for an important cause
Prof Hart is running the marathon for the charity Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). It was set up by Sanjay Sharma, Medical Director of the London Marathon. Sanjay is also co-author on the Exercise for Science research papers on MRI scanning London marathoners.
Prof Hart’s training is going well, and he is reassured by the findings of our work.
He said: “I know from our investigations that a four month marathon training programme allows time for the musculoskeletal system to adapt to the needs of long distance running. I’m enjoying putting our research into practice.”