I am a person who is plagued with a bad knee. Football took its toll on me from playing it in my younger years, and now its left me with some lasting knee discomfort. I'm likely somebody who will get a knee replacement 15+ years down the road when the discomfort becomes pain, and then when the pain becomes agony. I'm trying to delay that unfortunate looking future. In terms of being proactive about it I've taken to exercising the muscles around the knee to strengthen it. I've always tried to mix in some cardio (heart muscle needs exercise like anything else does), but I'm fearful that pounding the pavement will be unkind towards my knee as well.
Lately I've been looking at cardio that doesn't involve running, but a friend of mine mentioned looking further into softer shoes and treadmills to stay running (few things can beat a runners high). His theory is that softer shoes could help absorb some of the impact of running, and also they make treadmills that have adjustable softness levels too. https://www.treadmillreviews.com/nordictrack-commercial-1750-treadmill-review/ (halfway down the article it details it a little further)
I'm wondering if the combination of these two things would actually reduce the impact and possibly preserve my knee for the long run? (pun slightly intended)