Feet going numb on elliptical

I

ImFiddY

Cathlete
I had inner ear surgery a few months ago and have not exercised in over 3 months. I'm trying to get the weight off that I've gained in the 3 months plus the many pounds that I still need to shed.

I wanted to start with the elliptical and get going with that before I added weight training. I started with a mile a day and then 2 miles a day and now am trying to do 2.5 miles 2x a day. My feet are numb by the end of the 2.5 miles. I've tried untying my shoes, rotating my foot, crunching my toes but my feet still go numb. I'm wearing quality tennis court shoes with orthotics when exercising. I have a quality elliptical - AFG 4.0

Has anyone had this happen ? How do I keep my feet from getting numb ? Thanks !
 
I used to have this problem too about 10 minutes into my cardio sessions. Now I just buy my exercise shoes 1/2 size larger than my regular shoes to account for swelling in my feet that occurs during exercise and it has eliminated the problem for me.

Good luck.
 
I had the same problem, too, about 20 mins into my wo when I first started using an elliptical. It went away on its own after several months and now I can stay over an hour with no issue. Maybe they needed to just get used to it?? During my wo I also tried to flex/stretch my feet or wiggle my toes every 15 min or so.
 
I find this happens from time to time. Foot numbness is a sign of multiple things, so it's worth asking your doctor, btw, if you get an opportunity.

For me, it seems to be caused by pressure or extra impact. The same thing happens when I wear too-high heels for too long in situations where I can't take them off to flex my foot (usually those heels get dumped very soon after!). Also, when I'm in a chair that leads me to put too much continued pressure on my feet, say because it rotates me forward. What seems to help me is to flex the foot before and after, do those alphabet rotations with the toes (where you spell out the alphabet with each foot, helps with shin splints too), *and* use of my porcupine ball on the bare foot. And, of course, watching out for the impact. On the elliptical, I changed the way I put my foot down a little, so that it moves more with the pedal and is less of a high pressure step down.


Good luck! It's literally a pain to have that happen.
 
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I've had this happen too and the answer me was to do it without shoes. Of course it you're using an elliptical at the gym, that's probably not a good answer. But for home use, I just wear socks and my feet don't hurt at all anymore. Hope that helps.
 
Pedmom said:
I've had this happen too and the answer me was to do it without shoes. Of course it you're using an elliptical at the gym, that's probably not a good answer. But for home use, I just wear socks and my feet don't hurt at all anymore. Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Last night I took off the shoes and did the last 1/2 mile in my socks. My feet felt better but the foot petals have these raised ridges in them that was a bit uncomfortable. I think I'll try it with my birkenstock sandels tonight.

Thanks everyone for your help.
 
I had a similar issue for the longest time at the gym and my feet were so bothered I would eventually just jump off the elliptical and not do as long a workout. I remember asking people if they had this problem but nobody else seemed to.

Anyway, this was my solution: I loosened the laces near the toe of my running shoes to widen out the shoe but kept the laces tight near the top where you tie them (near the ankle). This seemed to give me so much more room near my toes that my feet stopped going numb pretty much all together. Not sure this will work for you but it seems I needed just a lot of toe room for the elliptical but not for any other activity.
 
Yep, I agree with CiciFifi. I recently had some running shoes specially fitted for me, my foot, my walking/running style. He said, "do your feet go numb when you do the elliptical?" I was like: :eek:
Anyway, it's some nerve somethingorother he said... totally "cured" by the loosening of the shoelaces on top of the foot. He skipped a few and loosened the top part of the shoe, and then secured the shoe more near the ankle with tension (if that makes sense) and a "runner's loop."
HTH!!!
 
Breckgirl,

"By the time you read this, you've already read it."

This line is hilarious. Oh and I remember Breckgirls. Your hair must be lovely if you're a Breckgirl.
 
BreckGirl said:
Yep, I agree with CiciFifi. I recently had some running shoes specially fitted for me, my foot, my walking/running style. He said, "do your feet go numb when you do the elliptical?" I was like: :eek:
Anyway, it's some nerve somethingorother he said... totally "cured" by the loosening of the shoelaces on top of the foot. He skipped a few and loosened the top part of the shoe, and then secured the shoe more near the ankle with tension (if that makes sense) and a "runner's loop."
HTH!!!
Click to expand...

I'll try this today. I tried birkenstock sandels with socks last night and it did help a lot. I was able to realize that I'm scrunching my toes and I was always on the ball of my foot. I tried to concentrate on heel-toe in my stride.

I'm using my old tennis court shoes that are worn on the bottom. Maybe I'll just take a box cutter and slice the toe area so the foot can expand. That plus the shoe lace trick might solve the problem.

Thanks
 
This happens to me regularly on the elliptical. I had no idea it happened to anyone else. I'll definitely try loosening my shoelaces next time.
 
I thought I was the only one this happened to. I thought it was a circulation issue but I noticed it one foot more than the other. I'll try loosening my shoelaces to see if it helps.
 
Today I bought a cheap pair of the rocker type exercise shoes(the kinda funky looking ones) and tried them on the elliptical. They helped keep my feet from becoming numb.
Kinda neat solution !
 
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