The last thing new parents need is an injury or niggle, but for those who are keen to start clocking up the miles, a new study offers some surprising reassurance: running with a stroller may actually lower the risk of injury.
Researchers at Penn State Berks found that although running while pushing a stroller does change the mechanics of the exercuse and feel harder, it also reduces the amount of impact the body absorbs with each step—a key factor linked to common overuse injuries such as knee pain, stress fractures and plantar fasciitis.
Published in the journal PLOS One, the study examined how running with a stroller affects loading forces on the body.
The research team recruited 38 healthy runners—both men and women who ran at least five miles a week—and had them run both with and without a stroller across a force plate that measured step impact.
When runners used a stroller, the researchers observed a reduction of eight percent to 17 percent across all vertical loading metrics, meaning each step generated less impact on the body.
“When we're running with a stroller, we unweight ourselves vertically because we put our hands on the handlebars and lean into it a little,” said paper author and biomedical engineer Allison Altman-Singles. “That allows some of our weight to shift and go through the stroller instead of our legs.”
However, the study also revealed a biomechanical trade-off: while vertical impact decreased, twisting—or 'torsional loading'—increased significantly, in some cases by more than four times.
This occurs because holding onto stroller handlebars restricts the body’s natural upper-body rotation, leading to more twisting forces under the feet as runners compensate to maintain balance and forward motion.
Even so, Singles, said that these changes don’t make stroller running dangerous.
"To minimize injury risk, parents can choose flat, smooth terrain whenever possible for their stroller runs," Singles told Newsweek. "They should minimize the extra weight in the stroller as much as possible and choose a stroller that is meant for running to reduce the resistance and optimize the steering mechanism."
Parents should also consider a stroller with adjustable handlebars to ensure comfortable alignment with their elbows to prevent awkward posture, she added.
The researchers noted that torsional loading is not as strongly associated with injury risk as vertical loading, but future work may explore whether improved stroller design or posture cues could mitigate those twisting forces.
With up to 79 percent of runners experiencing injuries each year, the findings could inform not only stroller design but also coaching strategies for parents who want to stay active without compromising safety.
With this initial study complete, the research team plans to continue exploring the biomechanics of stroller running and the specific types of injuries that may arise.
"Our lab has plans to look deeper into what causes increased twisting forces in a future study," Singles said. "It's possible that wheel size, handlebar height, or stroller weight can affect how hard it is to turn the stroller. Increased difficulty to turn would increase the twisting forces necessary to control the stroller. Handlebar height could affect how much the runner leans into the stroller, which could affect the impact loading, as well."
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Reference
Mahoney, J. M., Lista, A., Carbajal, D., Infantolino, B. W., & Altman-Singles, A. R. (2025). Biomechanical tradeoffs in stroller running: Reduced vertical impact loading and increased torsional injury risk. PLOS ONE, 20(9). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0332616
