Do your feet hurt when you ride?

Dec 7, 2006 By RL Policar Posted in The Archives Tagged with Commute by Bike

I’ve always had this numbing pain on my feet, more so on my left foot when I ride. I’ve played around with the positioning of the SPD cleats and even used platform pedals. But I still feel this pain.

Any suggestions?

0 thoughts on “Do your feet hurt when you ride?”

Doug says:

December 7, 2006 at 12:31 pm

Adjust your pedals

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Nick says:

December 7, 2006 at 12:31 pm

Thanks for the gross picture! Are you sure your shoes are the right size?

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Randy Policar says:

December 7, 2006 at 2:20 pm

Quit putting duct tape on your feet!

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Richard says:

December 7, 2006 at 2:39 pm

Go to a well respected bike shop with a lot of fit experience. Tell them the kind of pain you are having where and what your rides are like. First thing they’ll probably do is do a complete cleat positioning and possibly a different shoe recommendation. I found that I occasionally tense my feet up when riding, especially during tense traffic maneuvers or fast riding. Reminding myself to relax my feet has helped a great deal.

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RL Policar says:

December 7, 2006 at 2:41 pm

Thanks Richard.

Those ugly feet reminds me of Hobbit feet.

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Lanciat says:

December 7, 2006 at 3:04 pm

You need to be a little more specific about the pain you’re experiencing. It it numbess or a burning sensation? Where in the foot is the pain localized (ball of foot, toes, etc.)?

If it’s a burning under the ball of the foot (the dreaded “hot foot”), it’s caused by the irritation to the nerves between the metatarsal bones in your foot, a result of (a) repeated pressure on the ball of the foot and (b) your cycling shoe not being wide enough. Your foot swells (particularly in hot weather), and a tight shoe doesn’t expand with the foot, subjecting the nerves between the metatarsal bones to excessive pressure.

Solutions? (1) Move your cleat back off the ball of the foot and toward the rear of the shoe. (2) Switch to a pedal with a wider platform. (3) Switch to a wider shoe and/or a shoe with a “metatarsal button” in the insole. The cheapest route is to move your cleats back and buy a stick-on metarsal pad in your local drug store for the insole of your existing shoe.

If your toes become numb, the toe box in your shoes is either not long enough or not wide enough (or both).

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Moe says:

December 7, 2006 at 7:16 pm

No, but my knees do! (More on that later on)

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JohnnyQ says:

April 9, 2007 at 11:10 am

RL,
Are those your feet or Dan’s? By the way…I’m going to call you about getting a 925. It was a real cool ride.

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Dionsha Thomas says:

May 2, 2007 at 11:50 am

Damn yo feet is jacked da hell up get them fixed asap!

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Unlimited Music Downloads says:

May 28, 2007 at 9:17 pm

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Ran Wright says:

September 27, 2007 at 7:10 pm

All of the following is predicated upon good bike shoes and proper alignment. That part should have been done or you would also be complaining about your knees.
Care of the feet is as important as the care of you bottom in bicycling. The feet should be brushed every day. Start out with a wash rag, then get a soft brush and keep working up in brush hardness. Before you ride put lotion on your feet just like you do the saddle butter. When you are finished put up your shoes in a dry place. Clean you feet, and spray them with some kind of foot spray to keep away the bugs, i.e., athletes foot!! Take out the inserts to dry as well as the shoes and spray them. It is best to have two pair of shoes of the same kind to rotate. The socks are as important as your bibs… get some very good bike socks all the same thickness and thread type. Get several all the same! This will keep the same friction on your feet at each ride. Do not use any cotton socks (or any other cotton on your body when on a bicycle) Besides the higher friction level, cotton does not wick. In the world of outdoors cotton when wet brings hypothermia!!! The foot care and shoe tricks also apply to running, Good luck and do lots of miles…

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Dionsha Thomas says:

April 18, 2008 at 7:58 am

damn do do

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Dionsha Thomas says:

April 18, 2008 at 7:59 am

DAMN DOO DOO

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TISHA says:

April 18, 2008 at 8:00 am

Damn girl yo show is ugly. I mean look at dem shits.. Got Damn Doo doo

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Bill Leep says:

December 25, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Chill you foot critics – those are great looking feet and probably clean up well!!! Athletic feet rock…from head to toe – I’ll take a “biker” chick any day – anyway…..:-)

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