"Won't all that walking wear out my joints?" is one of the most common questions people ask. The best-known evidence is about knees, and it points the other way from the worry, though it is narrower than a lot of walking-and-joints advice suggests.
What the knee arthritis studies show
A 2022 analysis of the Osteoarthritis Initiative (Lo and colleagues) followed 1,212 people aged 50 and over with knee osteoarthritis on X-ray. Among those who didn't have frequent knee pain at the start, people who walked for exercise had about 40% lower odds of developing it over four years. We go through the study, including what it can't tell us, in walking and knee arthritis.
A 2014 study of 1,788 people with or at risk of knee arthritis (White and colleagues) found that each additional 1,000 steps a day was associated with 16 to 18% lower risk of developing difficulty with walking speed or physical function over two years, with about 6,000 steps a day a rough dividing line. Both studies are observational: people with healthier knees probably walk more. But neither finds that walkers fared worse.
Weight and the knee
In an 18-month diet and exercise trial in overweight and obese older adults with knee arthritis, Messier and colleagues measured knee forces during walking and found that each unit of weight lost went with roughly four units less compressive force on the knee per step. Over thousands of steps a day, that adds up. The catch is that walking alone usually produces modest weight loss, which we cover in does walking help you lose weight, so the diet side matters.
What we left out
You'll often read that cartilage has no blood supply and is "fed" by the squeeze and release of walking, and that sedentary people starve their cartilage. That is a plausible explanation, but we haven't found human studies showing that walking does this, so we're not relying on it. We also removed specific figures for how many times body weight walking and running put through the knee, because published estimates vary with the method and the joint. Claims about what hip specialists recommend, how much more impact treadmill decks absorb, and the step-count targets by joint condition from an earlier version of this page weren't sourced either.
Easing in with sore joints
This part is general guidance, not study findings. Start with short walks, such as 10 minutes, and add a few minutes a week. Judge by how the joints feel the next morning rather than during the walk: ordinary aching is one thing, and pain or swelling that is clearly worse the next day means you did too much, so ease back. Shoes that fit well and feel comfortable matter, and best walking shoes covers what to look for. Some people find softer surfaces such as grass or a treadmill more comfortable, though we haven't seen good evidence that surface changes outcomes. If you're building up from very little, walking for beginners and walking for seniors have gentle plans.
When to see a doctor
See a doctor or physiotherapist if you have sharp pain that stops you mid-step, joints that lock or give way, swelling that doesn't settle within a day or so of rest, a joint that is hot to the touch, or pain that keeps getting worse despite several weeks of gentle progression. They will often suggest adjusting how you walk rather than stopping, and they can tailor advice to the joint and the condition, including after surgery.
Sources
- Lo GH, Vinod S, Richard MJ, et al. Association between walking for exercise and symptomatic and structural progression in individuals with knee osteoarthritis: data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative cohort. Arthritis & Rheumatology. 2022. doi
- White DK, Tudor-Locke C, Zhang Y, et al. Daily walking and the risk of incident functional limitation in knee osteoarthritis: an observational study. Arthritis Care & Research. 2014;66(9):1328-1336. PubMed
- Messier SP, Gutekunst DJ, Davis C, DeVita P. Weight loss reduces knee-joint loads in overweight and obese older adults with knee osteoarthritis. Arthritis & Rheumatism. 2005;52(7):2026-2032. PubMed
Correction note: an earlier version of this page said walking "doesn't wear out your joints, it strengthens them," gave force figures for walking versus running, said hip specialists recommend walking and swimming, claimed treadmill decks absorb 15 to 40% more impact than concrete, ranked walking surfaces by joint impact, and gave step targets by joint condition. We could not trace those to sources and removed them. The weight and knee-load figure is real (Messier 2005) and now carries its source. This page is about knee evidence because that is where most of the walking research is; we did not find comparable walking studies for hips or ankles. We checked the figures against published abstracts on October 2, 2026. This is general information, not medical advice.