Age-related macular degeneration is the leading cause of central visual loss in people over age 50 and affects 15 million North Americans. A healthy retina is comparable to a healthy lawn of green grass. In dry macular degeneration, the diseased retinal pigment epithelium and drusen cause bald spots in the "lawn." In wet macular degeneration, there is choroidal neovascularisation, akin to weeds growing in the bald spots of the lawn. The National Runners Health study also found that runners with higher mileage had decreased risk of age-related macular degeneration. HDL cholesterol is increased with exercise (4) and elevated HDL cholesterol correlates with a lower risk of macular degeneration.
For the great majority of the population, exercise reduces the risk of diabetes, hypertension, and central retinal vein occlusion (5). This is notwithstanding the several case reports of central retinal vein occlusion and marathon runners retinopathy described in runners (6). Running usually augments the fibrinolysisn and coagulation cascade equally in normal individuals. Runners who develop venous occlusive disease have a prothrombotic state due to augmented coagulatory activation and dehydration. ...
Return to Running After Eye Injury ... After delicate retina surgery, waiting four to six weeks before running is advisable. If there is an intraocular gas bubble tamponade, flying to a marathon event can be a potential risk for gas expansion, although most commercial flights have pressurized cabins. Most retina surgeons have not indicated to me that running causes retinal detachment. The incidence of retinal detachment has decreased even though the number of runners has increased over the last few decades. Some runners with retinal detachment in one eye worry about the risk of contralateral involvement if they continue to run. Practically speaking, retina surgeons routinely examine and treat the contralateral eye if there are areas of weakness in the contralateral retina. Obviously if a runner notices worsening of flashes or floaters, or field loss while running they should stop running and have their eyes dilated and examined. ... ...
The biggest health risk to runners is injury from motor vehicle collisions. The Road Runners Clubs of America recommends keeping the "eyes up" when running, high visibility running gear, and maintaining eye contact with drivers who are stopped.