Foot pain on elliptical

[KnottedYet]

Ellipticals are job security for me.

Keep ridin' em, kids, then come to me when you are damaged!

[teigyr]

Why're they bad? Or good, as the case may be?

[KnottedYet]

They cause all kinds of interesting problems. Seems like every other athletic patient I get has been injured by an elliptical. (mind you, I only see *injured* people, so my worldview is very biased)

Ride carefully, ladies.

[Zen]

They cause all kinds of interesting problems.

Discuss...
How could they possibly cause problems? No impact and a simple circular motion. Sounds good in theory, right?
Possibly a user having an existing imbalance that exacerbates the condition and affects the rest of the chain?

Enlighten me, I'm waning gibbous.

[KnottedYet]

Foot and knee problems, mostly. Some upper back problems caused by "hanging" on the handle so they can whirl their feet really fast and feel like it's a good workout.

I ask my "it hurts every time I use the elliptical" folks to try riding a bike instead. But no, bikes are boring or bikes don't burn enough calories.

[velogirl]

the problem might not lie with the elliptical itself, but rather with the type of person who chooses to use an elliptical. I know at my gym, folks who use the ellipticals seems to do all kinds of crazy things -- leaning on the handles too much, "riding" them backwards, spinning super-fast, doing them on their toes or heels, reading a magazine or watching television rather than focusing on form. and none of these folks seems to be the most fit either, so I might assume they're already pre-disposed to certain injury types. just a thought.

[short cut sally]

I have the same problem Juju with my elliptical. My feet almost burn or hurt, it is so bad some times that I can't decide which it is. I would prefer to do my time on the machine all at once but I've had to break it up some. Ive tried all different sneakers and found that I can stay on the longest if I change to a pair of nursing clogs that I wear for good things, like going to the mall, etc. I've tried calling Nordic Trak about this and if I chose to replace my peddals with a more cushioned bed it was going to be like 150.00 plus an outragous ship/handling fee. I have yet to find something to replace the foot bed with as of yet. I am slowly getting so the pain is outweighing the benefit and my elliptical could fall in a heap and I would't shed a tear. I would cry over the amount of money that was invested but not over the piece of equipment. I can go from my treadmill to the elliptical and back to the treadmill (of course, changing shoes each time) and not experience any further pain once I am off the elliptical. I do not lean on the handles at all, I find it awkward, and I do not use the arm lever things either that move. Neither one is comfortable to me.