Numb feet during elliptical exercise
The main benefit of elliptical training is that you can exercise with minimal impact on your knees and joints. Throughout the entire workout, you won’t actually have to lift your feet off a surface and reposition them. But that’s where some people have trouble with elliptical workouts. Maintaining constant pressure on your feet for longer periods of time will cause them to go numb.
Because you don’t have to move your feet or toes while exercising on an elliptical machine, you may start to feel numb as early as 10 minutes into your workout due to a lack of actual movement in your feet. This can be a major annoyance for some, for others it is never a problem, and for most it is easily treatable.
Some people will experience numbness on an elliptical and others won’t, even on the same machine. It all depends on the design of the elliptical and if it was intended for you. Sometimes the stride length doesn’t suit you, and other times you could benefit from articulated pedals.
Numbness may not appear until after you’ve been exercising for a long time, or it may appear early, but you’ll usually be able to identify the onset of numbness before you feel completely numb. When you start to feel the warning, tingling signs, or even long before you notice numbness may be on the way, you can try moving your feet a bit to prevent or relieve numbness.
Prevent elliptical foot numbness
- try to wiggle your toes
- Put your feet back on the foot plates.
- shift your weight on the balls of your feet or heels, or rock back and forth between the two
- try not to keep too much weight on the balls of your feet
- loosen shoelaces or get better shoes with arch support
- change direction by going backwards on an elliptical
- use an elliptical with rotating (articulated) pedals
If you notice that numbness is a problem when you use an elliptical machine, try to focus a little more on your feet before the numbness sets in. Focusing on preventing your feet from going numb before it happens can prevent numbness from setting in at all. You may be able to prevent the tingling or numbness from even starting if you try to keep the same amount of pressure between the forefoot and the heel of your foot, while mixing in a few minimal movements throughout your exercise.
If numbness is something that comes on late in your workout and trying to avoid or alleviate it isn’t working, try breaking your workout up into shorter periods of time or getting off for an occasional lap from room to room.
I have noticed that over time, my experience with my feet tingling and feeling numb during the elliptical exercise has concentrated on one foot. But over time, I’ve been able to almost completely eliminate the feeling of numbness from my workouts and apply a great deal of focus to ensuring my elliptical posture and foot position are correct. Over time, you should also be able to see a reduction in the problem, and if it gradually worsens, you may have another medical problem, such as a neuroma in your foot.
