Numb feet after about 5 miles.

Craig8701

I started doing more cycling about 3 months ago to train for a Paris to Rome cycle in July. For some reason I always get numb feet after a few miles and after 30 my feet feel sore from it.
I thought getting SPD pedals and shoes would help but it still seems to be the same. It is worse in my right foot which may be down to me putting more power on that leg and keeping that foot on the peda when i stop at crossings ect.

If anyone else has had this problem and has found a cure for it I would love to hear their advice.

Craig

amaferanga

Probably due to your shoes being too tight or your cleat set-up. If your shoes are tight at the start of the ride then as your feet expand they'll become too tight.

twotyred

Do you mean you've changed to SPD or SPD-R?

I moved from using my Shimano MTB shoes with SPDs to road specific Shimano shoes and SPD-R pedals and started getting a numb right foot. I've tried altering cleat position, loosening the shoe, even taking the footbed out of the shoes to make sure my feet had plenty of room but nothing has worked. Went back to SPDs for the Dragon ride last Sunday and no problems at all for 80 miles. I'm at the point of either ditching SPD-R, installing an adaptor plate to let me try the road shoes with SPDs to see if its the pedal or shoe causing the problem or trying a different brand of road shoe.

Craig8701

I will give it a try with the shos a bit loose and see how it goes. Might try and lace them up different or maybe move the cleats to try and suss it out before my tour.

Buckled_Rims

It could be the cleat position - I think it can also be been called a "hot spot" on your sole.

If I take a longish ride with my SPD shoes on the road bike (I prefer the easy click in and out with SPD) I get a numbness every so often. I've always thought it either cleat position or the heat inside the shoe (MTB shoes with little ventilation).

If I ride a long distance with SPD_SL pedals and cleats with road shoes, I have no problems what-so-ever!

I've never tried the SPD cleats on my road shoes (it has the holes) so I might try that sometime.

ut_och_cykla

Whatever you do - change one thing at a time...

I ride with SPDs and a SPD road kind of pedal (A 535??) on my road bike which gives good support over long distances. Same shoes and pedal system for all the bikes in the family keeps life slightly simpler!

numb feet can be due to too tight shoes or cleat position but your general bike position might be causing problems too - sitting too high or low, sadle trapping a nerve/blood supply etc.

You mention lace up shoes - these tend to have quite flexible soles and it could be you need something stiffer, especially if you're a big guy.

I've heard there is a condition - usually painful not numbing - where a nerve between the toe 'knuckles' on the underside of your foot gets pressed but I think that sounds unlikely in your case.

vorsprung

I do very long distances in MTB SPD shoes. I do not get sore feet

Don't have the shoes too tight

Have the metal cleat plate as far back as possible in the direction of the heel

Other stuff to help foot comfort: wear appropriate socks. Coolmax in summer, merino in spring. Try and get the shoe size exactly right.

bnmcmhn

You may benefit from insoles.

If you have flat or high arches you can get footbeds for cycling shoes. You can buy generic footbeds like the ones northwave do and these may help you

If you have unusual shaped feet you may need custom footbeds. I have high arches which causes a number of problems, one of which was my right big toe went numb in my northwave road shoes. My insoles solved this. They cost about £80 and are specially made for the shape of your foot. You can get these from a good physio or podaistrist

rdt

ut_och_cykla wrote:

I've heard there is a condition - usually painful not numbing - where a nerve between the toe 'knuckles' on the underside of your foot gets pressed but I think that sounds unlikely in your case.

That'd be Morton's Neuroma, and as you suggest, symptoms are primarily pain not numbness. Doesn't sound like the culprit.

ceeque

this seems to be quite a problem for a great number of cyclists and I`ve read many a forum posting on it over the years: there is no easy answer, I have suffered from exactly the same as you since I was about 20, I`m well-ancient now and the only thing I`ve found is pressure on the ball of my foot is causing it .... like you, my right foot is far worse than my left cos it rarely leaves the pedal, the left gets relief when stopped by stretching and placing on the floor.
Am going to be trying supports under the ball of my foot next and I have a feeling it will help a great deal.
Have noticed that if I just "spin" forever I won`t get numb so have to alternate between "spinning" and pushing just a bit harder all the time which is kind of annoying but effective.
I remember getting completely dead feet after only 10 miles but can now manage alot of miles, upto 50 but have to get off the bike at some point and all the feeling comes back as if by magic ... theres never been an effective cure as far as I can see, I know this happens to a lot of people but you will find your own effective way thru` it .... its a pressure thing! Literally!

drewfromrisca

I have same problem as OP and it is a Morton's Neuroma. Bloody horrible things! I knew I had it bad when I took off my shoes and socks and the Doctor said "Do you wear high heels a lot?"...he was deadly serious as well!!!
I would go to your GP, I had orthotics done and it's calmed it down a little bit. I think I'm going to wait till summer is over then go have it cut out as the steroid injections (between the toes, very painful) didn't cure it either.

rdt

You have my sympathy, drewfromrisca. My other half has a couple of Morton's Neuromas, that's how I know about it, and how painful they can be. The OP stressed the numbness factor, which I didn't think was a primary symptom of NMs.

EDIT: Having now spoken to my other half about this, seems I was wrong. Her initial symptoms of Morton's Neuroma were numbness. As the neuroma developed over time, pain became the prime symptom.

Lazarus

Craig you don't say what shoes your using, but you have said you've increased you mileage.

I found when i finally upped the mileage after several years of cycling the first thing to cause me grief was my feet, The answer i found was to bite the bullet splash out on a pair of shoes virtually double what i payed previously, The problem disappeared instantly and has never returned.

It's a difficult one because it may be the answer but it could be an expensive error if it's not the problem.

jangle

I get this in my right foor quite a bit and have found that I can relieve the pressure by pulling on the up stroke more than pushing on the down stroke. I only do this for 30 seconds or so but it helps the numbness go away for a while. I need to keep the shoe a tiny bit looser, just enough to be able to lift my foot off the inner sole a touch. this was after playing around with different pedals, cleats and positioning.