Urgent help with foot problem

chrispsmith83

Hi All,

Sorry to have to post about this again, but I am really getting to a desperate state now after 6 months of being off the bike with an injury no one can seem to help me with, I was hoping that someone might have had something similar or could recommend the best foot doctor in the country.

For months I have thought I have had a condition called mortons Nueroma which is a swelling of the nerve between your toes, causing numbness and pain in your foot. I found this out by having to pay to see a private practice who did a scan and gave me this diagnosis. However further treatment of this condition is expensive so I decided to go back to my GP and be referred the old fashioned way on the NHS.

So today I had another scan and the doctor told me that there was no Nueroma there and as far as he could tell my foot looked perfectly fine, he said he would pass this onto my GP and it was his decision weather to take it any further or not.

So now I am very confused and also incredibly frustrated and upset because I don't know what is wrong with me.

Symtoms are as follows, and this is off the bike (one of my toes feels like it has swollen up, even though it hasn't and goes a little numb, this is also met with a shooting pain that travels towards my ankle. The pain is on the top not the bottom of the foot and the ball of my foot feels fine)

on the bike, it is the same but the pain is so unbearable that I have to stop, the pain then tends to last for a fair few hours after i have stopped.

Has anyone had any similar issues, or know of anyone, or recommend anyone or any help at all. it has been 6 months now and I haven't been able to cycle for more that 5 miles without agonising pain. I have gained 2 stone in this time and I am very worried that i am going to have to give up cycling all together.

Please any help

hatch87

Might be worth signing up to Bupa for a while, get much better treatment than the NHS and probably worth the extra costs in the long run. Hope you get it sorted soon

Grill

Go see Hamish at Profeet or Colin at Solutions4Feet. Best fitters with the best biomechanical knowledge in the country.

pkripper

problem is, it will have to be declared as a pre-existing condition, in which case their terms may preclude treatment.

I know it's not much use, but it sounds nerve related if there is numbness, have you considered arthritis of one of the toe / foot joints that in use (or especially in a cycling shoe where the pressure can't necessarily be relieved as it's not subject to a range of motion, and hence swelling can't be alleviated) may be swelling slightly and this expansion or subsequent pressure of a tight shoe puts pressure on a nerve?

I've got arthritis of the big toe and it occasionally goes numb on the bike and can hurt quite a lot. It's defo worse the tighter the shoe. Have you tried cycling with flats and shoes that are very flexible and loosely laced / have a roomy toe-box, e.g. nike frees or skechers go runs? That might be worth looking at as a test at least because it could potentially rule out an expansion issue.

chrispsmith83

A follow up question was going to be, can you cycle, buy pedals cleats where you can cycle from the arch of your foot rather that the ball? It is pressure on the ball of the foot that causes the most pain. Most online videos seem to suggest that you need to pedal using the ball of your foot

cougie

I've not seen them. No doubt someone has done them for paralympic reasons though.
What shoes do you have ? Decent carbon fibre shoes will spread the load of the cleat through the sole so there shouldnt be any hot spots ?

What cadence do you use ? Is it easier spinning - I'm thinking less pressure on the foot then - rather than stomping a big gear that might cause you problems ?

DrDavros

You certainly can place cleats in the arch of your shoes, although it requires some "engineering".

You might want to read this: http://www.trainingbible.com/joesblog/2 ... ition.html. The comments are particularly useful, too.

"With some skepticism I tried it. To my amazement my performance improved. In fact, my power-heart rate ratio which I tracked for years improved by 9%. That's a huge change. . . .Here you can see a picture of my Shimano road shoe with an SPD mountain bike cleat in the arch. .."

There's other bits & pieces about this, including a biomechanical study that I can't find at the mo'.

Best of luck sorting the problem.

g00se

Where abouts are you based?

earthvspace4XTuUWcX

I would think that even though your recent scan was negative, because your symptoms have been going on for 6 months and are obviously significant in terms of the pain and affecting your ability to cycle, then your GP would be happy to refer you to a local NHS orthopaedic Consultant who has an interest in feet/sports injuries etc.

marylogic

Who was it that told you that your second foot scan was fine? Was it a radiology doctor or an orthopaedic surgeon?

giropaul

It may or may not help - depending on whether or not you have Morton's Neuroma, and to what extent, but I would try getting fitted for a set of cycling foot beds by an expert who understands cycling well. Adrian Timmis comes to mind, but there will no doubt be others.

At least, if you do this you will have eliminated one possible cause of your issues.

g00se

Whatever the outcome, this lot have a very good reputation with feet issues and bike fits:

http://www.thefootlab.co.uk/THEFOOTLAB/Home.html