SynthesisSports health
Impact of Running Exercise on Intervertebral Disc: A Systematic Review.
Synthesis in Sports health. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- The Impact of Exercise on Intervertebral Disc Health: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Sports medicine (Auckland, N.Z.) · 2026Pooled it
- Identification and experimental validation of biomarkers associated with exercise in intervertebral disc degeneration through bulk RNA and single-cell RNA sequencing analysis.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Targeting skeletal interoception: a novel mechanistic insight into intervertebral disc degeneration and pain management.Journal of orthopaedic surgery and research · 2025Review
- Running Acceleration Correlates With T2 Magnetic Resonance Imaging Values of the Lumber Intervertebral Disc.Translational sports medicine · 2025Article
- Differences in the aging of the spine according to physical activity levels in older women.Frontiers in medicine · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
contextRunning is one of the most popular sports worldwide. However, controversies exist regarding how running affects runner's intervertebral discs (IVD).
objectiveThe purpose of this study was to systematically review studies that evaluated IVD morphology or composition changes in response to running exercise, to determine the impact of running exercise on IVD. DATA SOURCES: A systematic literature search was performed for 4 major databases: PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, and Web of Science. STUDY SELECTION: Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) healthy people without known IVD disease or major complications such as tuberculosis (IVD degeneration or low back pain are considered as minor complications); (2) subjects performed 1-time or regular running exercises; (3) pre and post comparison of runners or comparison between runners and healthy control subjects; (4) direct or indirect IVD morphology or composition measured; (5) IVD assessed before and after either acute or chronic running exercise, or compared cross-sectionally between runners and controls. Exclusion criteria were as follows: (1) reviews, editorials, letters or abstracts only; (2) animal studies; (3) subjects performed exercise other than running. STUDY
designSystematic review. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level 3. DATA EXTRACTION: The extracted data included study design and primary outcomes of the included studies. The Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS) was used to evaluate study quality and risk of bias.
resultsA total of 13 studies with 632 participants were included in the final analysis; 4 studies measured IVD changes using stature or spinal height, and the other 9 measured IVD changes using magnetic resonance imaging; 6 studies found that running acutely and negatively impacts IVD; 3 out of 5 cross-sectional studies found that IVD parameters are better for runners than controls; 1 longitudinal study found no significant difference in IVD before and after training for marathon in runners; 1 longitudinal study found no significant difference in changes of IVD between runners and controls after 15 years of follow-up.
conclusionNegative changes in IVD exist for a short period of time after running, which may be due to the temporary compression pushing water content out of the disc. Cross-sectional studies suggest that long-term running exerts a mild positive effect on IVD; however, this inference has not been confirmed by high-quality longitudinal studies.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.