Hurtin Feet

[font=Times New Roman]I use Look pedals and I found that I like to have the ball of my foot about 1 cm ahead of the pedal axle.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]And I also found that if my shoes are too tight, I’ll get hot spots. When you are riding you feet swell, and if the shoes are too tight, the blood circulation is cut off. If I get a hot spot (which is rare now) all I do is reach down and loosen my shoe straps a bit, and generally within a few minutes, the hot spot is gone.[/font]

Its not a hotspot. It is an extreme pain within the arch and ball of his foot. I know the feeling of the hot spot and resolve the problem as you do. He can barely walk after the ride and if we stop for a water break, if he removes the shoe it is a more severe pain than leaving the shoe on. I have looked at the arch line of his foot and it seems to be proper. Nothing revealing a deformity or incorrect position. It is almost to the point to send him to a foot specialist.

bikeguy2004 said:

[font=Times New Roman]I use Look pedals and I found that I like to have the ball of my foot about 1 cm ahead of the pedal axle.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]And I also found that if my shoes are too tight, I’ll get hot spots. When you are riding you feet swell, and if the shoes are too tight, the blood circulation is cut off. If I get a hot spot (which is rare now) all I do is reach down and loosen my shoe straps a bit, and generally within a few minutes, the hot spot is gone.[/font]

sup4012 said:

Its not a hotspot. It is an extreme pain within the arch and ball of his foot. I know the feeling of the hot spot and resolve the problem as you do. He can barely walk after the ride and if we stop for a water break, if he removes the shoe it is a more severe pain than leaving the shoe on. I have looked at the arch line of his foot and it seems to be proper. Nothing revealing a deformity or incorrect position. It is almost to the point to send him to a foot specialist.

[font=Times New Roman]OK... if it's severe pain, then don't waste time here... get you brother to a foot specialist. Still sounds like the problem is related to the shoes, maybe they are to narrow. But I’m not a foot specialist…. What do I know???[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]All I know is I can ride all day long with no foot problems.[/font]

How do you know if the shoes are to narrow. Do you think maybe he needs a wider shoe? Is that possible?

bikeguy2004 said:

[font=Times New Roman]OK... if it's severe pain, then don't waste time here... get you brother to a foot specialist. Still sounds like the problem is related to the shoes, maybe they are to narrow. But I’m not a foot specialist…. What do I know???[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]All I know is I can ride all day long with no foot problems.[/font]

I've been through that and it ruins a perfectly good ride, it wasn't that bad untill I rode a Century...

I use Sidi Genius Road Shoes and Crankbrothers Quattro Pedals, which hasn't got much to do with this, but I bought some Dr Scholls insoles from a local Grocery store, they were around $14 I think and 3/4 the length of the shoe, since then, absolutely no problems...

My wife also had a HUGE problem, for some reason it was worse when her Bike was on the Trainer?

Anyway, we did two things to cure it, install the same insoles as I use (see above) and I moved her cleats forward, which moved her foot backwards...now she never has a problem, the insoles eased the pain a little but not completely...

And both of us had pain in the same area as your Brother...so there's a couple of things for you to try...hope it helps...from experience it's really miserable...let us know what happens!

sup4012 said:

This question does not regard me but I am trying to help. My younger brother purchased a Marin bike. He bought cheap shoes and pedals - look brand, not my choice but for what he is doing an o.k. move. His feet never hurt until I upgraded my components and gave him my old ultegra crank and derailers. The only thing that changed with the different type of components was the quality and the crank length. He has severe pain! He made a decision to change out his shoes to a carbon sole shimano but not the cleats or the pedals. Still more pain. The pain is located just behind the ball of his foot toward the inside. It does not appear to have any indiaction of bruising or inflamation.

We cuurently found out that look makes two different types of cleats, one with a nine degree float and another with a zero degree float. He initially purchased the cleats with the nine degree float and are in use still at this time. Can anyone pinpoint a answer or give me some feedback.

sup4012 said:

How do you know if the shoes are to narrow. Do you think maybe he needs a wider shoe? Is that possible?

[font=Times New Roman]I don’t know for sure.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]BUT what has happened, per your postings.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]Your brother has a Marin and it looks like the bike came with flat pedals (and toe clips) or no pedals.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]marinbikes.commarin specs road.pdfOpen ↗[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]He had no problems with his feet. I’m not sure but I have to guess (you never explained) that the bike originally had flat pedals, and either the Sora or Tiagra components (otherwise why upgrade to Ultegra). You install a crank and the derailleurs, and the Look pedals and the cleats on the first pair of shoes. Then the pain starts. Possibly you think that the cheap shoes were too flexy, so they are swapped for a pair of carbon shoes. The new shoes are firm, and the pain is worse.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]So it’s either the cleat position, or the shoes are too tight. You reply no, to both. And you explain the pain is so severe that it’s worse with the shoes off. I don’t know, but if pain is worse with no shoe, when the foot relaxes to its natural position, if just seems to me that the foot is not in it’s natural position inside the shoe, so the shoe is either too tight (we covered that) or too narrow. Like I said, I don’t know.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman]But then again, I ride Look A5.1 pedals and Sidi shoes. It took me MANY rides over a month to find my ‘perfect’ cleat position. A few rides I had to stop only few miles out and readjust my cleats, because the pain was rather unbearable. I took the screw driver with me on the rides. It’s been about 18 months now, no pain, and no hot spots. I always work on the cheap solutions first. So why not try different cleat positions? For me the ball of the foot over the axle just was too painful. Like I said I moved my cleats back so the ball of my foot is about 1cm ahead of the pedal. Jaguar27 found relief for his wife by moving the cleat in the opposite direction.. That’s where I’d start, try different cleat positions. But the shoes have to fit OK too.[/font]

We switched cleats to a zero degree. Right foot has decreased pain, left foot pain still exists with some numbness. We released pressure of staps and pain is still current.

Any suggestions?

Time pedals I have (rxe) allow great lateral movement of the foot and maybe your brother could position his foot to more natural position while stroking.
I think you can work on finding this position with your present pedal as well by moving the cleats repeatedly
Many people position the cleats differently for each leg...

I hope you find a solution.

He may need to check his feet for possible pronation dysfunction or collapse medial arch, which can cause metatarsalgia/neuritis or pain between the heads of the digits/balls of the foot.