Advantages and Disadvantages of Treadmill Use for Exercise and Pain Relief (2024)

FAQs

What are the pros and cons of using a treadmill? ›

Weight loss

Perhaps the most widely known health benefit of treadmills is their ability to help individuals lose weight quickly and efficiently. Treadmills can help you burn calories more quickly than some other forms of aerobic exercise.

Cardio exercise alleviates back pain and prevents future injury when you use the equipment correctly. Aerobic activity — either on a treadmill or elliptical — improves your overall health.

Here we bring to you all that you need to know before getting on the treadmill and burning all that fat. Experts say that walking, jogging or running on a treadmill is extremely safe and does not entail any risk unless a person is suffering from certain conditions.

Frequency: Once you are used to treadmill walking, you can do it every day of the week. Walking at a brisk pace for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week, or a total of 150 to 300 minutes per week, is recommended to reduce health risks.

Treadmills: pros and cons

If you're jogging or running, a treadmill can put more stress on your knees compared to an elliptical trainer. But walking on a treadmill exerts about the same amount of force on the knees as using an elliptical machine. Treadmills tend to be more user-friendly and easier to use for beginners.

If you want to have an effective cardio session to help improve your overall cardiovascular endurance, you should walk on a treadmill for a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week.

02/6Obesity. For people who are overweight or obese, running on a treadmill can lead to complications of the joints. Joint pain and other consequences are often observed in people who fall under the obese category. Try to avoid it until you reach a safe weight and try alternate forms of cardio.

Walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes daily offers numerous benefits, including improved cardiovascular health, weight loss, better mental health, better sleep, and increased energy.

Generally, a 20-minute treadmill workout can help you burn the same amount of calories you would in a 50-minute session of continuous training. This is due to the greater afterburn effect of HIIT. Be sure to customize HIIT to meet your fitness goals and incorporate strength training throughout the week.

What is a better option than a treadmill? ›

The biggest benefit of the elliptical and stationary bike is that they're lower impact than the treadmill, says Sumner. Since you don't have to lift your foot up and down with each step or rotation, you're not going to put as much pressure on your lower body as you would while running.

Ellipticals also have handles that you hold in either hand, moving your arms toward and away from your body as you move your feet, so you work more muscle groups than on a treadmill. Using an elliptical can reduce pressure on your joints compared to using a treadmill. The lack of impact is beneficial for some people.

A sprint interval workout is a perfect choice. It serves as a calorie burner, and it raises your anaerobic capacity. Start with 10 minutes of warming up and gradually increase speed from 3-5 MPH. Continue with 20-30 minutes of alternating between sprint running (5-9 MPH) and slow walking (3.5-4 MPH).

Walking. Walking is good for low back pain because it's a low-impact exercise that offers the benefits of regular physical activity without aggravating the muscles and tendons of the lower back. It uses and stretches muscles in your back, is easy on your joints and can reduce bone and muscle loss.

Start by Walking

"It's best to warm up for at least five minutes at an easy to moderate walking pace, maybe a 2.5 mph or 3 mph pace," says McKay. "Then increase the pace until you are slightly out of breath for the duration of your workout, anywhere from five minutes to 15 minutes for beginners."

150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intensive aerobic activity per week is suggested to maintain your current weight. Going for a brisk walk or jog on the treadmill 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes will be enough to stay healthy and fit.

Thirty minutes on the treadmill is excellent exercise. Depending on the speed, you can easily burn calories, improve cardio fitness, or meet other goals. But just like other exercise programs, it's essential to pay attention to your health condition and not overdo it.

If you're walking, the calorie-burning and fitness benefits are about the same whether you walk on a treadmill or in the great outdoors. And the way the joints in your hips and knees move is very similar as well, suggesting risk for injury is no greater on the treadmill versus a sidewalk or a walking trail.

The truth is, walking on a treadmill has great health benefits, is more widely available, and is a wonderful low-impact exercise that you can do every day. According to the CDC, Americans need at least 150 minutes of aerobic exercise per week. This can be a brisk-paced walk for at least 10 minutes at a time.

Run your routine by your doctor

Try to work out on your treadmill at least three days each week and gradually increase the duration and frequency of exercise until reaching a target of at least 150 minutes per week. Make sure you have a hydration and energy plan to fuel your body during your workouts.

What is the best time of day to use the treadmill? ›

Between 2 p.m. and 6 p.m., your body temperature is at its highest. This may mean you'll be exercising during the window of time your body is most ready, potentially making it the most effective time of day to work out.

Set up a weekly routine, and stick to it. Running 3-4 times a week is a good rhythm. Make sure you take a day or two off, and limit yourself to 5 sessions a week². But remember also that setting a goal for yourself is pretty simple.

“Just like walking outside, using the treadmill provides an excellent workout because it increases cardiovascular endurance and improves blood flow, which, in turn, boosts circulation and decreases pain,” explains Theresa Lawrence Ford, MD, rheumatologist with the North Georgia Rheumatology Group in Atlanta.

When you have osteoarthritis, exercise can make you stronger, improve your balance, and lessen knee pain. Walking is an easy, low-impact way to start working out. A treadmill allows you to stay active and walk no matter the weather and doesn't make your joints move much differently than if you were outside.

Running at sharp inclines, like up hills, can result in the painful condition known as “runner's knee,” or known medically as patellofemoral stress syndrome. At these high-incline settings, ankle joints move less, making the knees compensate to carry the body up the hill.

The American Heart Association recommends 30 minutes of moderately intense exercise, such as a brisk walk at about 3 mph on a treadmill, five times per week. If the exercise is vigorously intense — comparable to jogging — three times per week for 20 minutes is the recommendation.

Running burns more than twice as many calories per minute as walking. For a person who weighs 160 pounds, walking at a pace of 3.5 miles per hour for 30 minutes burns about 156 calories. Running at 6 mph for the same time burns about 356 calories.

During exercise such as running, marching or fast walking, the calf muscle enlarges which can cause compression of the popliteal artery causing pain in the calf and/or foot. Once exercise stops, the pain subsides – this type of pain is referred to as claudication.

Holding onto the handrails while walking or running on the treadmill is a bad habit that reduces the good effects of your workout. 1 Most people can train themselves to use the treadmill without gripping the rail. Once you do so, you will get more benefits out of your treadmill workouts.

Can you not wear shoes on a treadmill? ›

Whilst going barefoot on the treadmill may seem like a harmless idea, it will end up doing more harm than good. It is recommended to always wear running shoes whilst using the treadmill whether you are walking, running or sprinting.

Ideally one should walk 300 minutes a week on the treadmill for extensive health benefits, including weight loss. One can reach this goal by walking 43 to 44 minutes each day. This will help your burn 1 kilo in a week. But if you have just embarked on the weight loss journey then start with 20 minutes a day.

Treadmills are definitely worth the money when it comes to convenience. As well as removing any travel travel time associated making them the perfect option if you only have a small amount of space available in your home.

Because a mile is 1609 meters, we can convert these walking speeds into mile walking time values. The average “usual” walking speed works out to walking one mile in 20.6 minutes, while walking a mile at the average maximum walking speed would take 13.48 minutes.

Fitness experts even say holding onto the handrails of a treadmill is a bad habit as doing so takes away all the benefits of walking and running. When you do so, you burn fewer number of calories, fail to learn the art of balance, ruin your posture and body alignment.

It requires a treadmill that can be set to an incline of 12 and speeds of at least 3 miles per hour. To perform the workout, start with a five to 10 minute warm-up of walking at a leisurely pace on a small incline of less than three. Next, participants walk at a pace of 3 miles per hour for 30 minutes.

Elliptical machines are ideal for seniors because they minimize stress on the hips, knees, and back, which are areas of the body where seniors frequently experience chronic pain.

A study concluded that treadmills are optimal indoor exercise machines for enhancing energy expenditure. Since a treadmill workout is a weight-bearing exercise, you will burn more calories and belly fat per minute on a treadmill than on a regular stationary bike.

Treadmills are better for aerobic workouts, too, said Hodges. A small 2021 study found that people using a treadmill burned more fat than those using an elliptical. The study suggested that exercising on a treadmill is a good way to improve cardio-metabolic health.

The treadmill has been shown to burn calories at the highest rate of any cardio exercise machine and running on a treadmill is one of the most effective ways to lose belly fat.

Is treadmill good for everyone? ›

For many, treadmills are a good choice to begin a new exercise routine because walking is well tolerated by most individuals regardless of fitness level and for most back conditions. As strength and endurance are developed, the treadmill can be used for jogging and/or for interval training.

The treadmill mainly works the lower body and cardiovascular system. The principal muscles involved are the thighs – both quadriceps and hamstrings – the calves and the glutes, more so as you increase the incline on your treadmill. The abdominals are also worked, especially if you run.

Not only does using a treadmill burn belly fat, but one of the long-term effects of regular treadmill sessions is that visceral fat will go away for good. Plus, even if you end up gaining some weight down the road, treadmill running not allow the deep belly fat to return.

Frequency: Once you are used to treadmill walking, you can do it every day of the week. Walking at a brisk pace for 30 to 60 minutes most days of the week, or a total of 150 to 300 minutes per week, is recommended to reduce health risks.

Research has found that you actually burn more calories walking outside than on a treadmill, as you must walk over uneven surfaces, up and down hills, as well as deal with factors like the wind. 10 All of this makes your muscles work harder, which means you burn more calories.

If you want to have an effective cardio session to help improve your overall cardiovascular endurance, you should walk on a treadmill for a minimum of 30 to 60 minutes a day, five days a week.

Ideally one should walk 300 minutes a week on the treadmill for extensive health benefits, including weight loss. One can reach this goal by walking 43 to 44 minutes each day. This will help your burn 1 kilo in a week. But if you have just embarked on the weight loss journey then start with 20 minutes a day.

150 minutes of moderate or 75 minutes of intensive aerobic activity per week is suggested to maintain your current weight. Going for a brisk walk or jog on the treadmill 3-4 times a week for 30-45 minutes will be enough to stay healthy and fit.

However, in general 2-4 mph on the treadmill is a walking speed and 4-5 mph is a fast walk or jog. Runners will set the treadmill at 5 mph or faster. To add some variety and difficulty to the workout, set the treadmill incline at 1-2. That closely simulates walking or running outside.

Is A treadmill good for your knees? ›

So, treadmill running isn't bad for your knees and doesn't cause arthritis or accelerate existing knee osteoarthritis. If you are a runner diagnosed with knee arthritis, you should feel safe continuing to run.

Feeling dizzy after using the treadmill is caused by a disconnect between your body and brain — your brain thinks that you're moving forward in space, but your body is actually staying in the same place (with its legs moving).

Treadmill cons

Running or jogging on a treadmill can put more stress on your bones and joints compared to working out on an elliptical trainer. Ultimately, this can lead to injuries . Common running injuries include shin splints, knee injuries, and stress fractures.

Running at sharp inclines, like up hills, can result in the painful condition known as “runner's knee,” or known medically as patellofemoral stress syndrome. At these high-incline settings, ankle joints move less, making the knees compensate to carry the body up the hill.

The average person takes 2250 steps per mile, which takes approximately 20 minutes to accomplish. At this pace, it will take about 1 ½ hours to reach 10,000. If you did nothing else all day, you could still achieve your 10k goal in about an hour and a half. That's doing nothing and then stepping on a treadmill.