The stepper machine is killing my knees

Caperfae

Well, it's either hard on them or I just over did it today. I'm leaning more toward over doing it.
I hope they're better tomorrow and if they are I'll lighten up my workouts for a bit.

Does anyone else find that machines make your knees sore?

NatalieWinning

I absolutely cannot do bike, steppers, eliptical, or stairs at a work out level. It's always been that way for me! Kills my knees by the first week, then I'm done for good. Walking, jogging (haven't done this in forever), cross country skiing, ski machine, swimming (except breast stroke leg kick) or weight training are okay. I can do most dance type things, too. You might have to do something else!

Caperfae

Quite possibly.
I'm going to give it time. I just bought the thing on Saturday and I'm thinking I was just too ambitious .. hopefully.
I understand that knee issues are common with these types of machines so here's hoping *fingers crossed* that after a few days of lighter or different workouts they will be fine again.

lupuslady

stairs, bike riding, running all are very hard on your knees. So if you are having trouble now, please giv e your knees a rest for a couple of days, and take Ibuprophen. The pain is from swelling and irritation, if the swelling goes down you will feel a lot better. But you must give the knees time to allow the swelling to go down.

lisafrancis629

My knees started killing me after jogging. I took couple days off, iced them once at night and took advil twice a day. I am doing the elliptical and walking now and sometimes they hurt but no nearly as bad as before so everyone once in a while I still ice them. Also started doing exercises to strengthen my quads, inner thighs and hamstring to help support my knees. And I stretch those muscles really well after working out. I'm gonna give it a couple more weeks before I start back jogging so we'll see.

Good luck.

Caperfae

Thank you all for your input

Azdak

Depends on your knee problems. Stairclimbers are often used as part of a rehab program following a knee injury or knee surgery, so there is nothing inherently harmful or detrimental about stairclimbing when it comes to knees.

How is your form? Are you hunched over and/or hanging on to the rails while attempting a higher intensity? Are you trying to "push" the steps down rather than just keeping up with the speed of the machine?

There is no single answer. It could also be that you have a knee condition that requires specific therapeutic strengthening exercises before you can tolerate extended stairclimbing. Lots of possibilities (including the fact that you just might have overdone it ;-)

Caperfae

Knees are feeling much better this morning. Lesson learned about over doing it. I did over 100 minutes yesterday (2 intervals). I'll just keep my workouts on the stepper in the 60 minute range. Knees didn't bother me at that amount of time.

I have the bladez core glide stepper. There are no handles. It's a small, compact easy to store machine.

I'll see how todays workout goes and take it from there