Knee Pain Cardio?

I had my ACL/MCL done about 9 years ago (and now have unrelated pain in my other knee). The only things I've found that work for me are swimming - I take an Aquafitness class for a little variety - and the elliptical. Even on the elliptical, I keep both knees wrapped, just in case. I find I have good days and bad days. On the good days I can walk and hike, on the bad days even swimming requires ice on the "fixed" knee afterwards.

It really is a bummer when you can no longer do the exercised you actually enjoy doing. Even more of a bummer if it becomes so bad that somedays you can't even take the stairs (where I'm at right now).

I have knee pain too, but oddly running on the treadmill doesn't hurt for me. It's more of things like squats and lunges. Have you tried spinning? That burns a lot of calories and I don't think it puts a lot of pressure on the knee. Or maybe even cardio machines like the elliptical? Hope you find something. I know how frustrating knee pain can be.

I've had 2 knee surgeries (one was a car accident and tore all the ligaments and tendons in the knee and the other was a fall after doing a backflip--don't try that in heels BTW--where I tore my ACL) and two other knee injuries (one fall that tore the meniscus and the last one in August where I tore the patella tendon). The best thing you can do for knee issues is to strengthen the knees with weight training. Specifically, leg extensions and leg curls and 30%'s on both of those exercises. When you first start doing 30%'s you basically have to pull the pin on the machine and do it with just the weight of the machine. Eventually, you will build up to doing more weight. The 30%'s are a 30% range of motion just the 30% of the range of motion where the knee is almost fully extended. They focus on the small muscles of the knee, the insertion points of the large muscles around the knee, and the ligaments and tendons get stronger too. When you've strengthened the knees, then you can do pretty much whatever cardio you want. I teach step aerobics, kickboxing, etc. on mine as well as squat 300 pounds for reps. If I can do all that, then you can build back up to running. It does take time, though. So, in the meantime, I recommend an exercise bike (make sure the seat is the correct distance from the pedals for you to not feel it in your knees), boxing drills, and aquatic exercise. They also make arm bikes and rowing machines that are mostly upper body workouts for cardio. I don't recommend the elliptical because it may cause more knee pain if it isn't set for your specific stride length. Stride length is an individual thing and the basic positioning on the elliptical may or may not work for you. If you have access to an elliptical that has adjustments for stride length, you can try playing with it to find one that doesn't cause you to feel any discomfort in your knees (like I recommended for the bike) and use it, but be careful not to just jump on one and assume it will be safe for your knees because of it being low impact.

Biking or biking motion on the elliptical work for me. These movements seem to strengthen the muscles that run on each side of my knees. I feel stronger and have less pain when I do these exercies regularly.