Best Types Of Exercise When You Have Hip Or Knee Pain

Hip or knee pain makes everything harder, especially exercising. How are you supposed to work out when it hurts to bend your joints or put pressure on them?

The answer is to switch to non-weight-bearing exercise that takes the burden off of your hips and knees. "It allows you to move more freely, with less pain, and you wind up feeling better afterward," says Vijay A. Daryanani, a physical therapist and personal trainer with Harvard-affiliated Spaulding Outpatient Center.

Joint-friendly exercise machines

Several exercise machines are gentle on your joints and provide a great cardio workout while strengthening your muscles, improving endurance, and boosting range of motion. An elliptical trainer. This machine has pedals that move along an oval-shaped track (either back and forth or up and down), creating a fluid motion that saves you from hitting the ground and putting pressure on your joints. Most elliptical trainers also have handles or poles you move back and forth for an upper-body workout (like a cross-country ski machine). "You need good balance to use an elliptical machine. If it’s safe for you to use it, try moving the pedals backward sometimes to challenge your muscles and balance even more," Daryanani suggests.