Sarah Billings
AP Biology D even
Mr. Ippolito
January 18, 2017
Reynolds, Gretchen. "Running May Be Good for Your Knees." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2017. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. <https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/well/move/running-may-be-good-for-your-knees.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fhealth&action=click&contentCollection=health®ion=rank&module=package&version=highlights&contentPlacement=1&pgtype=sectionfront>.
In the New York Times article called “Running May Be Good for Your Knees," by Gretchen Reynolds, the debated theory of whether or not running causes knee pain is examined. The article focuses on one experiment, which was conducted by researchers at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. In this experiment, they took fifteen male and female runners, who were all under thirty and had healthy knees (meaning no history of arthritis or injury). The researchers then drew blood from each of their arms, as well as a little bit of synovial fluid from their knees, which is “a lubricating fluid that reduces friction inside joints” (Reynolds 2017). The author describes how “Healthy knees contain only a soupçon of the stuff; arthritic and otherwise unhealthy knees tend to contain much more.” The participants were then taken to a biomechanics lab, where they either ran on a treadmill (at their preferred pace) or sat in a chair for thirty minutes. Another sample of blood and and fluid was taken after these tests. After analysis, the researchers found many different points of interest. Firstly, the results showed that, in almost every case, runners had a lower level of inflammation in the synovial fluid in their knees than in their baseline level. Additionally, it seems that after a run, the levels of a substance called cartilage oligomeric matrix protein, or COMP are higher in the person’s blood than in the synovial fluid. COMP is a substance that has expressed higher levels in diseased knees, meaning that running causes this substance to move out of the knees and into the blood. On the other hand, sitting for thirty minutes caused the levels to increase within the fluid in the knees. Overall, this experiments suggests that running could actually lower the risk of arthritis, however the scientists explain that this is only a “very small and short-term study.” In the future, they would like to use larger numbers and include more variables to ascertain a better theory.
The findings in this article are extremely relevant to modern society. According to the Arthritis Foundation, 1 in 5 adults are diagnosed with arthritis, and it is the nation’s number 1 cause of disability. Therefore, if scientists could learn more about factors that induce it, such as sitting for prolonged periods of time, then they could help decrease the chances of it happening significantly. This article can also help encourage people to go running more, if it will help prevent disability. I find this article particularly interesting because I run a lot, so I think it’s important for me to know if there are possibly harmful effects in running too much or for too long.
While this article was really well written, there were some aspects the author could have done better. For example, it’s important to include statements and opinions from multiple sources so there’s more credibility to the issue, and the viewer can observe other perspectives and make their own assumptions. This article only provided a quote from one man, who was a professor at the university and lead author in the study. While his opinions will definitely be well informed, he’s only one voice that we’re hearing on the subject. In terms of positive aspects, the author provided a really good description of the experiment itself, as well as a thorough explanation of the scientific terms discussed. Overall, it was really interesting to read about this topic.
Reynolds, Gretchen. "Running May Be Good for Your Knees." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2017. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. .
ReplyDeleteSarah’s review of Running May Be Good for Your Knees was a very interesting review. I liked how she was really thorough and gave details on the experiment, describing the people who were testing on and what they did to them. This helped me understand just what the experiment was so that I could have a better idea of what exactly the results meant. This strengthened her review as it helped the readers have a deep understanding of what she is talking about. In addition, the fact that she added a definition of what synovial fluid added to her review as it was more detailed, but moreover I had no idea what this fluid was so it helped me understand what it was. Finally, the last thing that I thought Sarah did very well was that she had many quotes from the article which I thought added to her review a lot, and made it seem even more precise.
Although this review was extremely interesting, one way it could have been made better is that Sarah could have elaborated a bit more on her second paragraph and added a bit more on the effect of this experiment for the world. By adding one or two more sentence, she could have made her review even more captivating. Moreover, I would have liked for her talk a bit more of the consequences of arthritis as not everyone has an in-depth knowledge about it. By doing this it would have added even detail to her review.
Overall, this review was captivating and taught me about an experiment that I was not familiar with. A lot of people have told me that running is bad for the knees, even more if you run on concrete. Thus, by reading Sarah’s review I learned about a new perspective on the subject. This wasn’t only interesting but it showed me how much we are never sure about anything and one theory can be disproved very easily with a new experiment. Overall, it made me realize how important it is for us to be open-minded and keep experimenting as we might find many new interesting things.
I choose to comment on Sarah’s review of “Running May Be Good for Your Knees”. Overall, I thought Sarah’s review was very well-written. I like how Sarah begins her review by stating that the article discusses whether or not running is bad for the knees. This helps clarify that the article is saying running may be good for the knees but does not definitively say it is. Another thing I liked was how Sarah discussed the experiment performed in great depth. This helped me to understand how this study would effectively show whether running is good for the knees or not. Finally, I liked how Sarah connected this to society. She said that arthritis is common in society and with studies like this we can learn to prevent it. I thought this made the article seem very important and studies like this can really be beneficial for society.
ReplyDeleteEven though I enjoyed Sarah’s review, there were some areas that could have been improved. For example, I wish Sarah hadn’t used so much scientific vocabulary. Including words such as cartilage oligomeric matrix protein did not add much to article and ended up just confusing the reader. Another area she could have improved is Sarah could have given specific examples of how this experiment could be expanded to provide better data. This would have helped the reader to imagine just how beneficial studies such as these can be.
Overall, I thought the article and the review were very well-written. This article was extremely interesting to me, especially as a runner. I’ve always thought that running was really bad for all joints, including knees. For me it was interesting to learn that this may not be correct. This is relieving to me, given that I run almost everyday. Also, I know a lot of runners with knee problems so it would be interesting to learn what the cause of their problems would be from if it is not running.
ReplyDeleteReynolds, Gretchen. "Running May Be Good for Your Knees." The New York Times. The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2017. Web. 18 Jan. 2017. .
I read Sarah Billings review of the article “Running May Be Good for Your Knees,” because the title seemed intriguing considering most people will tell you that running is bad for your knees. Sarah describes how the article examined one specific experiment on 15 male and female runners under the age of 30 who had healthy knees. The results of the experiment found that, “after a run, the levels of a substance called cartilage oligomeric matrix protein, or COMP are higher in the person’s blood than in the synovial fluid.” This means that COMP (a substance that is shown in higher quantities in diseased knees) is moving out of the knees and into the bloodstream. Sarah finishes her summary by stating that running can actually reduce the chances of getting arthritis.
Sarah could have done a better job by expanding on her second paragraph and how this study can help the modern world. She could have included how it will help Americans specifically. I think she also could have given the reader a little bit more background and information about arthritis, because I personally have zero knowledge about the topic and would have found information in the article to be useful.
From this review I learned about the benefits of running and the harmful effects of sitting my whole life. This will change my life understanding by making me sit less because I will constantly be worried that I am going to get arthritis in my knees, which sounds awful to me.
Mia Gradelski
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
AP Biology
November 10, 2017
Reynolds, Gretchen. “Running May Be Good for Your Knees.” The New York Times,
The New York Times, 18 Jan. 2017 www.nytimes.com/2017/01/18/well/move/running-may-be-good-for-your-knees.html?rref=cl
Throughout Billings’ review, it is clearly evident that she displayed the key ideas from the article, “Running May Be Good for Your Knees.” While reading her review, I was immediately introduced to the purpose of this article and what the article focuses on. As a reader, I think it is very important to understand the main plot of this article because it discusses many points about impact of running on the knees. In addition, she later writes, “In this experiment, they took fifteen male and female runners, who were all under thirty and had healthy knees.” After reading this quote, Billings’ did an excellent job combining factual information with her own words to end with a quote in the sentence. I chose this part of the passage because it truly resembles the correct writing technique of presenting your reader with a quote after stating a fact from the text. Lastly, the aspect that I think she did excellently was towards the end of her first paragraph where she refutes the author’s previous statement and starts with the phrase, “On the other hand, sitting for thirty minutes caused the levels to increase within the fluid of the knees.” This was written very well because it makes the reader question the article and even their own life, if sitting every day at work or school. Overall, Billings’ clearly demonstrated three key aspects which were flawless in assisting the reader to understand the purpose more clearly, relate to the article, and combine facts with real statements said inside the article.
Although Billings’ wrote an interesting and questionable review, I thought there were a few areas which needed improvement. For example, towards the middle of her first paragraph, she immediately starts throwing information at the reader and I was a bit confused why she included the unnecessary acronym which doesn’t relate to the premise of the article, “COMP” which instead relates to a person’s blood. I think she should of explained previously what COMP stands for or removed it from the review to make understandable and not confusing. In addition, a small writing technique that I wouldn’t use is using real numbers instead of writing them out. In a paper, I would advise instead of printing the number 1 when writing, “1 in 5 adults,” I would write the number one and five to be consistent with the rest of the words in the paper.
Overall, Billings’ review was very well constructed which lead me to make sense of this new phenomenon that many people would think to be false. I learned a lot about the statistical evidence of arthritis becoming more common for “1 in 5 adults” and most astonishingly that after the conducting case stated inside the article, “runners had a lower level of inflammation in the synovial fluid in their knees than in their baseline level.” This review made me not only think about how I feel after running which would contradict this statement of having felt a more soothing pain in my joints, which lead me to the reason I chose this article. As a result, the findings of knowing new research is always useful for me especially since I love to run and her article will make me think differently about how I take care of my body after how I feel.