There's a higher rate of injury among runners compared to swimmers, there's no denying that.

But running also provides benefits that swimming doesn't. Low impact exercises won't strengthen the supporting tissue in your legs the way high-impact exercises does, your bones and tendons for example. And a lot of injuries comes from people pushing themselves too hard before they're ready. A lot of them can be avoided if you slowly work yourself up to running the distances/speeds you want, and listen to your body when it tells you to stop.

I've seen a lot of people say anecdotally that running will screw up your knees and joints. I've seen a lot of people say anecdotally that running will screw up your knees and joints, but never any hard facts.

That however is false. If you want some hard facts, here are some:

• "Long-distance running among healthy older individuals was not associated with accelerated radiographic osteoarthritis" - Study link
• "Running significantly reduced osteoarthritis and hip replacement risk due to, in part, running's association with lower BMI, whereas other exercise increased osteoarthritis and hip replacement risk." - Study link
• "There is no increased risk of symptomatic knee osteoarthritis among self-selected runners compared with non-runners in a cohort recruited from the community. In those without osteoarthritis, running does not appear detrimental to the knees." - study link