Jogging can Kill You

Jogging has some real pluses going for it. It does develop good leg and thigh muscles. It does accelerate the heartbeat. And it does give you that tanned, outdoorsy look. But what about the bottom line? Is jogging good or bad for your health?

The fact is that, for both men and women, running or jogging is one of the most wasteful and hazardous forms of exercise. Jogging takes more from the body than it gives back. It exacts a price that no one can afford or should be willing to pay for leg and thigh muscles or for that specious indicator of good health--the tan.

Among the bodily structures most likely to be damaged by (continued on page 152)Jogging(continued from page 87) jogging are the sacroiliac joints, the joints of the spine, the veins of the legs, the abdominal rings (in men) and the uterus and breasts.

The sacroiliac joint (between the sacrum and the hipbone) is the "soft underbelly" for the jogging assault. The sacrum is a wedge-shaped bone at the lower end of the spine or vertebral column. It forms a joint with each of the hipbones. The margin or border of the hipbone is secured to the sacrum by means of ligaments, tough bands of tissue. These joints, however sturdy, are under constant stress, because the weight of the entire body above the hips bears down upon the top of the sacrum, through the spine, which "sits" upon the sacrum.

Even without undue violence, as that inflicted by jogging or lifting weights, the sacrum frequently tends to sag and thus loosen its linkage with the hipbones, causing the familiar sacroiliac pains, especially in women.

To this normal and often damaging pressure upon the top of the sacrum, now add the ballistic impact or thump of the lower end of the spine each time the foot of the jogger hits the ground! It is not unlike splitting a log by driving a wedge into it with a sledge hammer.

Another jogger-vulnerable body structure is the intervertebral disk, a cushioning circle of tissue situated, like a gasket, between adjacent vertebrae. The spine may be envisioned as a stack of bony rings separated by jelly-filled doughnuts. The "jelly" makes the disk more flexible and reduces friction. The disk, or doughnut, provides protection from damage by impact or compression. Even in ordinary functions of the body, as walking, the vertebrae need the cushioning protection of the disks, as the weight of the body compresses adjacent vertebrae with each step or thump of the foot against the floor or pavement.

Under excessive pressure, the outer wall of the disk often bursts and the contents are expelled. The resulting condition--medically a herniated disk--is known popularly as a slipped disk. Jogging contributes to this condition in the same manner that it strains the sacroiliac joint--by pounding the disk with a hydraulic impact at each footstep of the jogger.

The veins of the body are not endowed with the same degree of elasticity and tensile strength as the arteries. Their walls are relatively thin and prone to dilatation. Considering the fact that the veins of the leg support a column of blood of considerable height, it is not surprising that dilated and varicose veins are common. It is also obvious that jogging is a vein's worst enemy. With every step, with every thump of the foot, a column of blood several feet high pounds the veins of the legs like a battering ram! The repeated impacts encourage phlebitis. Moreover, if clots or crusts are present in the veins (they usually adhere to the inner surface), the impact may release them into the blood stream and cause them to be swept into the heart and lungs. Because women are prone to develop varicose veins, the hazard of jogging is more substantial for them.

Jogging is also a strain on the uterus. A rather loosely fixed organ, the pear-shaped uterus is situated in the lower part of the pelvis, between the rectum and the bladder. Normally, it sprawls over the top of the bladder, where it is carried like a rucksack. Occasionally, more frequently in women who have borne children, it slips off its perch and either sags downward or, more likely, rolls backward (thus pressing against the rectum). In either case, the displacement produces a "bearing-down" discomfort and other symptoms. Because of the compactness and weight of the uterus, jogging militates in favor of abnormal displacement.

The effects of jogging on a woman's breasts may be divided into pathological and cosmetic. The possible pathological results require more observation and study, but the cosmetic effects are quite clear. Jogging causes the breasts to droop prematurely. The female breast contains no muscles or ligaments in the usual sense. It is essentially a sac filled with milk glands, ducts and fat. The fat is distributed between and around the milk glands and ducts, and it alone gives the breast its plump, rounded form, at least in the young. A network of slender fibers provides tenuous support for the soft interior of the breast. These slender fibers (unjustifiably called ligaments) course through the fat and are in part attached to the skin. In jogging, the breast acquires substantial movement and these fibers or miniligaments easily snap. The breast flattens and droops, like a partly deflated balloon. The deforming effect is more marked in women who have borne children, but it is substantial even in the young, though the disfigurement is not immediately observable. In most cases, the filler of young fat resists, temporarily, at least, alteration in shape. However, in time, as the fat softens or disappears, the collapse of the breast is accelerated.

Inguinal hernia is a privileged bailiwick of the male. For reasons better known to the Creator, a portion of the male anatomy destined to be external begins in the embryo as an interior structure within the abdomen. At a certain stage of embryonic development, this part begins to migrate to the exterior of the body, where it will remain. In the course of this migration, it pierces the anterior wall of the abdomen near the crease of the groin, in two places. First it pierces the inner muscular layer, then it travels for a short distance between the inner layer and the outer layer, and finally it pierces the outer muscular layer, to emerge externally. The places pierced by the migrating structure close and heal, but not adequately. There remain in the lower part of the male's abdomen two thinned regions that under provocation, as internal pressure, may open again and permit a part of the intestine, or something else, to slither through. That is inguinal hernia.

The internal surface of the abdomen (and pelvis) is smooth and slippery. Anything within the abdomen that is not "nailed down" by ligaments and mesenteries (folds of membrane) tends to gravitate toward those weakened spots, known medically as the abdominal rings. Jumping or jogging sends the abdominal contents pounding against the weak abdominal rings. Eventually, like a ladleful of cooked spaghetti in a greased funnel, some of the contents push through to form an external mass--the hernia.

Jogging, although it accelerates the heartbeat, may do the heart more harm than good. The heart is a massive organ that is not particularly well anchored, considering its weight. It is held in place by little more than the connecting arteries and veins. In some plane and automobile crashes, where the movement of the body is suddenly stopped by a collision, the heart often breaks through the chest wall and remains suspended grotesquely outside by its blood vessels, like an old light fixture detached from the ceiling or wall and hanging awkwardly by its wires. In jogging, the results are not quite that traumatic or dramatic, but the tug on the major blood vessels with every thump of the jogger's step is both severe and undesirable. Thrombi or blood crusts on the inner surface of the blood vessels, especially the coronary blood vessels, may be shaken loose and carried to smaller heart blood vessels, where they cause a serious blockage--the classic heart attack.

Nor are these the only casualties of jogging. Among the others are the "dropped" stomach, the loose spleen, the floating kidney and the fallen arches.

So jog if you must. But remember, it is not an unmixed blessing.