Elliptical machines and treadmills are simple to use and provide low- or non-impact workouts. Primarily used for weight-loss, these machines can offer some muscle toning and muscular endurance benefits. They are fairly safe to use, because they are stationary and require simple movements, but the repetitive motions you use when working out on a treadmill or elliptical can cause a variety of aches, pains and injuries.
Types of Workouts
Ellipticals and treadmills are designed primarily to promote weight loss by creating fat-burning or aerobic exercises. Well-conditioned athletes can create high-intensity sprints on either machine to train anaerobic recovery for sports such as tennis, volleyball, football, soccer or basketball.
Impact
Elliptical trainers create non-impact workouts because both of your feet remain in contact with the foot pedals the entire time you exercise. Walking on a treadmill also creates a non-impact workout. As you raise the speed on a treadmill, you create low-impact exercise with jogging, and high-impact exercise when you run.
Repetitive-Stress Injuries
Overusing a muscle creates a repetitive stress injury. You can do this if you are new to exercise and use either machine too fast or too long before you have built muscular endurance. If you exercise regularly, but have never used an elliptical, the pedaling motion while you bear your body's entire weight may cause shin splints, knee and hip discomfort or lower back pain.
Traumatic Injuries
You can injure yourself on a treadmill by not paying attention to your leg movements as you try to re-set the electronic console, talk to a friend or otherwise don't pay attention to what you're doing. You can break a bone, damage ligaments or tendons or pull a muscle with a fall from a treadmill. Because you use your hands during an elliptical workout, a fall is less likely. Using an elliptical too fast, with the wrong stride length or without proper warm-up can lead to a muscle strain.
Muscle Use
Treadmills work your lower body, primarily the calves and quadriceps. Increasing the incline requires you to use more calf muscle. If the treadmill has walking poles, you can add an upper-body workout that will help you improve muscular endurance and muscle toning. An elliptical offers more muscle toning because of the amount of weight your legs must resist to perform the exercises. An elliptical lets you pedal backwards, creating a different muscle movement than you get on a treadmill.
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