Does the elliptical hurt anyone else's knees?

Vain_Witch
Vain_Witch Posts: 476 Member
edited October 26 in Fitness and Exercise
I've heard it's supposed to be better than the treadmill, but I can do an hour on the treadmill (on some pretty serious incline even) with little to no pain in my knees...but 5 minutes on the elliptical and I want to cry!!! I'm not allowed to run (doctor's orders) so I REALLY want to be able to do the elliptical since it seems like you can really get a great burn on it!
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Replies

  • Sqeekyjojo
    Sqeekyjojo Posts: 704 Member
    Yes, me.

    So I don't use it. I row instead, as that doesn't put pressure on them in the same way - it's not worth screwing up my knee joints over.
  • awholenewworld
    awholenewworld Posts: 61 Member
    Hurts my knees and my hips too. I stick to the treadmill or the stationary bike for cardio.
  • wjleffi
    wjleffi Posts: 52 Member
    Try using it and making sure your weight stays in your heels. It can be bad for your knees otherwise.
  • auzziecawth66
    auzziecawth66 Posts: 476 Member
    The elliptical is great but you have to be sure to find one that is inline with your natural stride. If your stride isn't inline with the machine then yes it can def hurt your knees. Ellipticals are def NOT one size fits all.
  • caspergirl7
    caspergirl7 Posts: 590 Member
    yep same here.. kills my knees
  • pangy1958
    pangy1958 Posts: 151 Member
    After having an operation on my knee in July i am just starting to use elliptical again. The physio told me to start slowly and not many minutes gradually building up. I do find that my hips do hurt some times and then others not.
  • madworld1
    madworld1 Posts: 524
    YES!! I told my doctor about it and he didn't believe me. He said that they are supposed to be a good form of cross training for individuals with bad knees. I have tried numerous ellipticals and find that they all hurt my knees. Glad I'm not the only one.
  • VickiMitkins
    VickiMitkins Posts: 249 Member
    No problems for me. Actually think it's helped strengthen the muscles around my knees (which my ortho said I needed to do to reduce knee pain I was having). My knees have some arthritis and the typical 50 year old creeks and groans. I have a friend that can't use it because of the stress on her knees (something to do with the motion pushing down and back in the stride). She close to 60 though and really needs knee replacements. It also could just be the machine does not fit you well. I'm short and find some machines are just hard for me to use. I bought my own, so no problem with that now. When I first started on it, I thought it was the devil machine. Could not manage more than 5 minutes at a time. You might just need to give it some more time and increase your time on it slowly. If your knees continue to hurt, then stick with the treadmill.
  • Cat_Lifts
    Cat_Lifts Posts: 174 Member
    Is the resistance set too high, possibly? Do you tend to leave your whole foot flat on the pedals (heels down), or use more of the ball of your feet to push? I know it may sound silly, but check your positioning of your feet when you step on/are using the elliptical. Make sure they're evenly matched in placement on the steps, one not too far in and the other too far out. Again I know it might sound silly, but I had a slight issue with knee pain once and that helped a little. Something about the positioning of my feet/hip alignment was more of my issue, not so much pushing off the pedal. Then again, it was also one of my first times in a long, long time I used the elliptical, so perhaps my knees were a little unused to it, although I didn't have severe pain. Slight discomfort at most - the burn in my quads helped hide it, though. :tongue:

    However, if you're experiencing pain to the point where it's unbearable, I wouldn't do it, regardless of the benefits of the burn. There are plenty of other options for a good burn as well. Are you jogging/running on the treadmill when doing incline, or walking? If walking, stick to that and just go a little longer - you ought to get an equal caloric burn as you would on an elliptical, you'll just be spending a little more time, and no/less knee pain!
  • VickiMitkins
    VickiMitkins Posts: 249 Member
    The elliptical is great but you have to be sure to find one that is inline with your natural stride. If your stride isn't inline with the machine then yes it can def hurt your knees. Ellipticals are def NOT one size fits all.

    ^this^ I eventully just bought my own instead of going to the gym. tried out quite a few before I found one that worked for me.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
    Knees? No. Hips? Yes.
  • Roni_M
    Roni_M Posts: 717 Member
    Kills both my knees and hips. I think the placement of my legs when the weight transfers is the issue. I have psoriatic arthritis though. Love my treadmill and work the incline with no problems. :flowerforyou:
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Okay so this is new for me. Last month I started C25k and went upto week 6 pretty quickly. I was doing outdoors and was doing 2kms in 18 minutes. But then I started to have pain just below my knees and then I had to stop. I rested my knees for 3 weeks and after reading on different forums and advice from mfp friends I was recommended to use elliptical trainer. I have good stamina on elliptical I do 30-40 min between levels 8-16 and never had pain before. Recently I am having pain on my shins. I have stopped again. I love doing elliptical but seeing this thread I can see elliptical can cause knee pain too, thats sad:( For some reason I am attracted to elliptical and treadmill and not doing much of strength training. I guess ultimately I have to save the knees and should do more strength training. Any thoughts? I still love elliptical though:(
  • mili5726
    mili5726 Posts: 116 Member
    No but it makes my feet go numb after about 15 minutes.
  • ToughMudderAddict
    ToughMudderAddict Posts: 290 Member
    I no longer use the elliptical because it does hurt my knees. I find that the "foot pedals" are too far apart compared to my normal stride which puts weird pressure on my knees and makes my feet not feel like they are where they belong.. does that make sense?
  • Gutter19
    Gutter19 Posts: 141
    No but it makes my feet go numb after about 15 minutes.

    Yes the lack of foot movement gets to me as well.
  • VickiMitkins
    VickiMitkins Posts: 249 Member
    I no longer use the elliptical because it does hurt my knees. I find that the "foot pedals" are too far apart compared to my normal stride which puts weird pressure on my knees and makes my feet not feel like they are where they belong.. does that make sense?

    I had this problem too. It really depends on the machine. Problem is most gym machines have the rear flywheel which requires more space in between. I found a machine that fit me and baought it since I prefer exercizing at home. Someone also mentioned the numb feet. That too can be an issue. Not as much of a problem on my new machine because it has nice cushy gell inserts. I did find the those curved shape up shoes helped. The curved bottom kind of rolls on the peddle allow small adjustments.
  • umer76
    umer76 Posts: 1,272 Member
    Then alternative to elliptical would be cycling then? In order to save the knees.
  • bbmich23
    bbmich23 Posts: 37 Member
    I got rid of mine just for that reason. It was horrible! My husband had the same problem. I walk and do other activity..
  • wikitbikit
    wikitbikit Posts: 518 Member
    It hurts my everything. Even my eyes! Pretty sure it was designed by the Marquis de Sade.
  • becjovincent
    becjovincent Posts: 25 Member
    I think its all different for everyone - how your body works & what your knee pain is.

    I have runners knee & an elliptical is so much better on my knees then a treadmill... but if you have other knee issues, maybe just that motion is what's so tough.

    Have you tried cycling? Does that hurt as well?
  • rnprincess
    rnprincess Posts: 103 Member
    I have very bad arthritis in my knees, which I am sure my weight does not help. However, my orthopedic doctor banned me from the treadmill because it was too much weight bearing. I have no problem walking up stairs, but when I go down it hurts and I have to do it sideways. With that said, I have no problem with the eliptical at all. When my knees were at their worse I was able to build up to an hour.
  • drchimpanzee
    drchimpanzee Posts: 892 Member
    Not sure if it will help or how you do it already but have you tried peddling in the opposite direction? For me backwards was always more irritating than forwards. Everyone is different though.
  • BenRadder
    BenRadder Posts: 1
    I was having the same issues, knees, hips, numb feet, and then I did some research: Are you leaning forward and bouncing while using the elliptical? I was, because that felt like the fun, natural way to do it. Turns out that's completely wrong. I switched it up and sat back on my heels, moved my legs only and concentrated on keeping my balance with my core, all the pain went away. It's about 20X HARDER, and I can only go about 20 minutes instead of 45, but I have zero pain now. It's very tempting to slowly go back to bouncing and leaning forward, but that's what's killing your knees and numbing your feet.
  • darkguardian419
    darkguardian419 Posts: 1,302 Member
    I'm the same way. Elliptical hurts, but treadmill I feel fine (for a while) recently the stationary bike has been hurting my knee as well. I blame the elliptical on the short ROM, and thinking the bike could be similar. I'm 24 and "relatively" healthy, so I'm doubting that it's my joints.
  • ami5000psu
    ami5000psu Posts: 391 Member
    No but it makes my feet go numb after about 15 minutes.

    Same thing happens to me.
  • rabbyduby
    rabbyduby Posts: 123 Member
    I no longer use the elliptical because it does hurt my knees. I find that the "foot pedals" are too far apart compared to my normal stride which puts weird pressure on my knees and makes my feet not feel like they are where they belong.. does that make sense?



    Totally agree. Kills my knees. and i thought i was the only one.
  • OneDimSim
    OneDimSim Posts: 188 Member
    I find that all the ellipical machines seem to be different in how much resistance they put up, the size of the eliipses (SP?) etc.....

    For instance, my one @ home puts GREAT resistance and is hard to push the pedals on the lowest setting while the one @ the gym i cannot even break a sweat on the lowest setting (plus size of ellipses very small) - b4 you totally give up, try a few different ones.

    There are also some elliptical-like machines out there - like one that is almost like a combo elliptica/stairmaster where you do a sort uphill ski action - one where your legs go out to the sides, etc.

    I also have knee issues - patellar tracking - which i am pretty sure was brought on by WALKING on the treadmill @ incline + not stretching the IT band. So walking on incline is not something i do much of anymore except for an occasional interval.

    I HATE the stationary bike with a PASSION....some ppl like it!
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    No but it makes my feet go numb after about 15 minutes.

    Numb Feet: Try loosening your shoe laces or even unlace the top few holes of your trainers, quite a few people use the elliptical in socks as this is common problem.

    Knee pain: I wonder if some of the knee problems are caused by splayed feet causing patella tracking issues?
  • alienrite
    alienrite Posts: 314 Member
    Ellipticals are tricky and can be the best and worst machines to use. They are an engineered repetitive fixed motion which is very prone to causing repetitive motion stress issues if they are not properly sized for the individual (similar to carpal tunnel syndrome). I picked the one I own for primary purpose that the stride length is adjustable and the pedal sizes are large enough to allow my feet to sit a good distance apart. I use mine 5 to 7 days a week since last June without any pain and have actually used it to strengthen my legs and correct some stride issues which have helped my newly found attraction to running. This takes a consistent focus and thought about what my body is doing (leg motion, foot motion and pressure, hips, back, etc.) which I cannot do while watching the TV.

    As being a big proponent of ellipticals but you have to be smart about them and which ones you use. Make sure you can adjust the stride length and pay attention to what your body is doing. Using an elliptical without thought and consideration for your own physique can be damaging. It is even worse if you are doing it mindlessly while watching TV or otherwise ignoring the motion you are making.
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