By the time the pandemic kicked off, I had already been thinking about alternative ways of exercising that could help to give my knees a break. I was primarily a pavement or nature trail runner, and I found that by mixing up the terrains on which I ran, my knees were saved from the constant thud-thud-thudding that comes from asphalt jogging.

I wondered if the success of mixing up surfaces might be replicated or increased by mixing up the exercises themselves – particularly in regard to running and roller skating.

According to Joe Dale, a registered osteopath and founder of Victoria Park Sports Medicine, roller skating does work muscles in a different way to running: “Mixing up different types of exercise is always a good idea, as this works the joint in a different manner and engages different muscles. In many ways, roller skating is the perfect complement to running as it stresses the knee in a completely different way (rather than downward force caused by running, roller skating causes sideways stress to the knee joint).”

Dale also notes that roller skating can bring about less pain in the short term. “There is less impact on the knee joint when roller skating, and this may mean less pain is felt in the short term,” he tells Stylist. “However, it’s important to remember that although running may cause short-term pain in the joint, that doesn’t make the long-term effects any less beneficial.”

With the idea in mind, I finally grabbed a pair of skates and set about trying to mix skating into my running week.

Knee pain tips: “How roller skating reversed my chronic knee pain after years of running”