Pain only in right foot!

Gaz7777gaz

Hi I have only been cycling for just over a year on and off due to weather and injuries but when I go out on a ride after about 10/15 mins my right foot starts to hurt on the outside of my foot .i have tried loosening my shoe but it still aches .i picked up my new Ribble bike yesterday and even purchased a new pair of shoes .and guess what just returned from a quick blast on my new toy and my foot was killing me.any body had anything like this happen to them .

Calpol

I used to get this on my DHB MTB shoes. Exactly the same spot. It normally wore off but definitley improved with arch support as supplied by the Specialized footbeds. I have high arches so need the green ones. Got a new pair of shoes and switched to SL pedals and havent had the issue.

Wirral_paul

Going through a similar issue at the moment but already have the Specilized BG arch supports. I think my shoes may be slightly too narrow - looening the ratchet helps.

jameses

Your feet swell slightly during exercise, so make sure your shoes are a tiny bit loose before you start riding. General rule is that they should be half a size (or one european size) larger than your everyday shoes to accomodate this. It may only be one sided because most people have one foot slightly larger than the other.
Another possibility is your saddle might be slightly off to one side, which might cause pain anywhere in the leg as you will be slightly imbalanced to compensate.

zoltansocrates

+1 for james comment
saddle alignement was my issue, we are talking about 1 or 2mm offset and the foot ws agony

dennisn

zoltansocrates wrote:

+1 for james comment
saddle alignement was my issue, we are talking about 1 or 2mm offset and the foot ws agony

Side to side saddle alignment? I'm curious as to how it happens, how it's measured, how it's adjusted, etc.? Or are you talking about whether the saddle is pointing straight ahead?(in line with the frame)?

wellbeloved747

This happens to me and its because i have a wide foot and there for need a wide shoe, i find Shimano the best currently!

Grill

Varus wedges and footbeds solved that exact problem for me.

edten

i had the same problem for a long time (got quite severe) and it took lots of experimenting to solve...and money unfortunately. In my instance there were more than one factors. My pain was a combination of the following
In order of how much it contributed
1. a wider left foot. was worse in winter as in summer sweating would mean fluid would drain from feet so shoes more roomy.
2. high arches. A large part of the foot not in contact with the footbed so a lot of force going through the outer part of the foot (5th metatarsal I believe). Check out Steve Hogg website (largely responsible for me arriving at pain free cycling). Has lots of great info about shimming, wedging and most importantly (IMO) arch support. Arch support should actually be slightly invasive at least when standing.
3. overpronation - varus wedging solved this. Initially i started using loads of wedging to try to solve the pain until I realised the above two issues. With the above sorted the wedging wasn't that necessary. I keep one mainly just for knee alignment.
4. functionally shorter right leg, meant i was overcompensating by putting too much power down on the left leg. A 2-3mm shim in the right cleat helped to equal me out a little. (this was done by a bike fitter).

First of all get your feet measured. I'd recommend drawing around your feet and measuring them then take a look at the bont sizing chart.
http://www.bont.com/cycling/items/support/size-old.html
If it suggests you need the wide version then I would cut out all the crap i went through and just go straight for the bonts. IME they are the widest shoes on the market unless you go custom.

Also checkout out the lake website for how to draw around your feet and measure.

To work out arch height you can use the arch test thing by Spesh which many bike shops have. However I would not recommend their footbeds unless you have very low arches.

My experience with shoes - Width wise Shimano shoes were the worse for me. Specialized S-Works were way too narrow too. Sidi Mega were no better, and they were so sloppy it was like wearing slippers, hated them, terrible for hot spots. Lake CX401 Wide, still very slightly too narrow but starting to get on the right track. Paired with a pair of esoles (the high arch ones) the pain was lessened but still there if i put the hammer down early in a ride. Moved to Bont Vaypor wide, with esoles black insert (the highest). Also had one varus cleat wedge installed. Baked the shoes a couple of times and had to force the outside of the left shoe out (where the 5th met is) with a blunt end of a screwdriver. Finally cycling bliss! Took a while (1.5 yrs) to get there but now I ride totally free of any pain.

I also find feathering the edge of the inner soles with a sharp scalpel makes the transition between footbed and shoe less invasive virtually removing any hot spots on very long rides.

A bit of an essay but I know how much foot pain can ruin the pleasure of riding so if it helps anyone then worth it.

Gaz7777gaz

Thanks so much for all your help,on my next ride I will loosen my right shoe and take it from there ,may as well start with the easiest ,saying that I have already changed my shoes.i will follow all your advise step by step and see what happens .thanks.

goonz

wellbeloved747 wrote:

This happens to me and its because i have a wide foot and there for need a wide shoe, i find Shimano the best currently!

Ditto here, wide feet and currently Shimanos have fared better than Specialized for me. Was looking to go for some SIDI but think they may be too narrow in their standard shoe?

goonz

edten wrote:

i had the same problem for a long time (got quite severe) and it took lots of experimenting to solve...and money unfortunately. In my instance there were more than one factors. My pain was a combination of the following
In order of how much it contributed
1. a wider left foot. was worse in winter as in summer sweating would mean fluid would drain from feet so shoes more roomy.
2. high arches. A large part of the foot not in contact with the footbed so a lot of force going through the outer part of the foot (5th metatarsal I believe). Check out Steve Hogg website (largely responsible for me arriving at pain free cycling). Has lots of great info about shimming, wedging and most importantly (IMO) arch support. Arch support should actually be slightly invasive at least when standing.
3. overpronation - varus wedging solved this. Initially i started using loads of wedging to try to solve the pain until I realised the above two issues. With the above sorted the wedging wasn't that necessary. I keep one mainly just for knee alignment.
4. functionally shorter right leg, meant i was overcompensating by putting too much power down on the left leg. A 2-3mm shim in the right cleat helped to equal me out a little. (this was done by a bike fitter).

First of all get your feet measured. I'd recommend drawing around your feet and measuring them then take a look at the bont sizing chart.
http://www.bont.com/cycling/items/support/size-old.html
If it suggests you need the wide version then I would cut out all the crap i went through and just go straight for the bonts. IME they are the widest shoes on the market unless you go custom.

Also checkout out the lake website for how to draw around your feet and measure.

To work out arch height you can use the arch test thing by Spesh which many bike shops have. However I would not recommend their footbeds unless you have very low arches.

My experience with shoes - Width wise Shimano shoes were the worse for me. Specialized S-Works were way too narrow too. Sidi Mega were no better, and they were so sloppy it was like wearing slippers, hated them, terrible for hot spots. Lake CX401 Wide, still very slightly too narrow but starting to get on the right track. Paired with a pair of esoles (the high arch ones) the pain was lessened but still there if i put the hammer down early in a ride. Moved to Bont Vaypor wide, with esoles black insert (the highest). Also had one varus cleat wedge installed. Baked the shoes a couple of times and had to force the outside of the left shoe out (where the 5th met is) with a blunt end of a screwdriver. Finally cycling bliss! Took a while (1.5 yrs) to get there but now I ride totally free of any pain.

I also find feathering the edge of the inner soles with a sharp scalpel makes the transition between footbed and shoe less invasive virtually removing any hot spots on very long rides.

A bit of an essay but I know how much foot pain can ruin the pleasure of riding so if it helps anyone then worth it.

Thanks for ths, will definitely be reading this again when I get home, need to know all about the wedges, shoes suitable for wider feet etc. When you say baked your shoe how does this work?

VTech

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