Numb foot question

[54ny77]

Got a perpetually numb left foot while riding. Have tried everything I can think of: loosening straps (REALLY loose), moved cleat fore/aft and tweaked the angle just the slightest increments, swapped all bikes over to wider platform pedals (Shimano platform, used to ride speedplay), and even just bought a nice new pair of wide shimano shoes (in a wide sizing). I'm stumped. Foot gets numb, some days better than others but still.....not fun.

Suggestions?

[justaute]

How are your arches? Do you have enough support there?

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[acarvalho]

Send you an email​. Same suggestion is giving here: check for spinal hernias. Numb foot was the first symptom I had before experiencing real back pain.

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[bigreen505]

In my experience it usually comes down to cleat placement. Too straight, not straight enough, or to much or not enough cleat cant.

[ultraman6970]

IME it depends of a lot of things, I suffer of the same problem you have and found many ways to address it but all depends.

I would advice you a few things, I have the problems in the same foot than you and I started by figuring out if the left and right foot are the same size (paper and a pencil will help), then measured my legs from the floot to the hip... then what I did was check out solestar and what they claim... then for years I noticed that my left heel was rocking up and down and I had to stop that. Once I figure all of the problems I started addressing them one by one.

Left foot almost half a number smaller, Shimmed the ankle support at the shoe, now the left shoe is almost 1 piece with the foot. Rocking of the heel up and down, shimmed under the heel up like 3 or 4 mm at the inside and with that I fix the pronation because my problem is that I pronate at the heel not at the arch (my arches are flexible), and to address the flex arches I shimmed up the insoles, I put stiffer insole (lake carbon insole).

Since one leg is shorter I do the saddle height based in the shorter leg and then add a couple of mm to account for the longer leg.

After all of that which took me years to figure it out Im numbness free at least for 4 hours in my left foot.

To be honest i had to go symptom by symptom addressing one by one till finally I got it right or almost right.

Regarding the cleats front or back trick that never worked too well because in my particular case my issue was that the weight distribution inside of the shoe was wrong (what solestar says) because my heel was rocking up and down was not touching the shoe constantly and that made (from what solestar says) the ball of the foot to take all the efford, with the consequence of numbeness in over 2 hours rides.

Check out what the guys from solestar says, take it with a grain of salt but it could be useful . But you have to start making an analysis of what is going on.

Hope it helps.

ps: this is just personal experience and what I had to do to solve like 3 problems that brought me a hot spot in my left foot.

[54ny77]

Thanks a bunch. That's all good food for thought. I've tried everything I can think of on the bike (adjustments) , with no meaningful success, so I have to assume it's a biomechanical thing with the body somewhere. After years of just sucking it up, I'd like to try and find a solution this year.

Summers and really hot weather tend to exacerbate the situation. One thing I have identified is that if the top strap (closest to ankle) is too tight, the problem magnifies quickly, so I tend to run that very loose. Maybe there's an important vein in that spot on the foot that gets pinched? At the moment I'm using Shimano R321 shoes in wide size. Left foot is a full size bigger than right. Dunno if full custom shoes would do the trick and that's a pricey way to experiment. I can't use any shoes with that wire/boa strap thing because I need them so loose at top.

Justaute: I couldn't answer the arch question re:support. Shoes are very comfortable, that's all I know. How does one determine if they have good or bad arch support?

Acarvalho:. I have had L4/L5 issues for years (degenerative) with occasional herniation. In your case was the foot issue the trigger for pending back pain (that you hadn't experienced yet), or was the back pain causing a pinched nerve or something that extended all the way to foot?

[Bentley]

For me numbness in my foot (either or both) was a big problem until I got some really stiff shoes with proper arch support. I found that a sole that flexed cut the circulation in my foot and it was like it "went to sleep), kinda of like what happens when you sleep on your arm. If you have this frequently and you have soles that are not stiff, I suggest an upgrade in footwear.

[54ny77]

I have Shimano's top shoe, they were over 400 bucks. Hope I don't need more of an upgrade!

Originally Posted by Bentley

For me numbness in my foot (either or both) was a big problem until I got some really stiff shoes with proper arch support. I found that a sole that flexed cut the circulation in my foot and it was like it "went to sleep), kinda of like what happens when you sleep on your arm. If you have this frequently and you have soles that are not stiff, I suggest an upgrade in footwear.

[rousseau]

How about lowering your saddle a few mm? That worked for me when I got cramping in one foot. Though perhaps cramping and numbness have different physiological causes.

[54ny77]

funny u should mention that--my left leg is also slightly longer and my saddle height is set for that (i.e., right side is the benchmark). have gone up and down about 1 cm over the past few years, nothing came of it.

keep the ideas comin' though, hopefully a new trick will work!

thanks for the responses all.

Originally Posted by rousseau

How about lowering your saddle a few mm? That worked for me when I got cramping in one foot. Though perhaps cramping and numbness have different physiological causes.

[Tony T]

Not my foot, but I used to get a numb big toe after about 40 miles, earlier in hot weather.
The Specialized Body Geometry SL Footbeds solved my issue.

[GregL]

Been there (Morton's Neuroma). Solutions were shoes with wider toeboxes, stiffer soles, and more arch support. Specialized shoes and footbeds did the trick for me at a reasonable cost. Good luck!

Greg

[tiretrax]

I have the issue on long rides (100k+). I have narrow, bony feet with a lot of vascularity. Is it a pinched vein or nerve? I tired many things you mention - moving cleat, changing saddle height, insoles, etc. I finally found the solution - make a stop, take off shoes and massage foot. It adds time to a ride, but it works!

[ultraman6970]

Op, questions you need to answer yourself... as older you get sadly the more spot on this needs to be.

1 - is my saddle height ok? I use lemond for this and then adjust depending on the numbnes of the junk. Numb and disconfort means too high.

2 - Knees are traveling straight? or I have waving knees?

3 - saddle back is ok? I use like a table I found and adjust accordingly, my red light is that I can't spin and disconfort in the junk.

4 - Shoes too tight?? but this is relative because if the shoe and the foot arent one then the problem appears, so this is like a question mark because it depends on the guy.

5 - Are My arches flexible?? if the arch flex you get pronation (or the other one), pronation means knees waving, some people thinks they have flat feet but they have flex arches, under weight the foot gets flat. Easy to find out, seated crossing legs just look at the bottom of your foot, it has an arch? VS standing up, if standing up the foot goes flat then clearly you need stiff arch support.

6 - One thing many custom shoes makers (if not all) does is to measure how much support you need (this is how I figured it out i needed to shim my insoles), seated just put your feet on the floor 90 degrees at the knees, check out the achilles tendon, it must be straight but if you for example pronate it wont be straight, some people put tape over it to know exactly how the tendon is running. start adding stuff under the arch and kind'a close to the heel till that tendon gets straight, that will give you and idea of how high the arch must be. Sometimes is not that the arch support needs to be that high but stiffer because the arch and the heel just flex too much. In my particular case had to go stiffer and higher to get that tendon as straight as posible.

7 - take my comments with a grain of salt ok? this worked for me but took me years to figure this %^&$& out. Not that I'm a doctor because im not, as you said bio-mechanical problem due to a misdiagnosed almost flat feet. With the years realized that im not flat feet, I have a nasty case of flex arches.

8 - Sole insoles have a new model of insoles with cork and met ball thingy in the middle to help morton's neuroma. Made of cork, super thin, stiff and you can mold them but in your case I wouldnt mold them till you figure it out the arch part.

Good luck, sucks to have that pain because as older you get the more unbearable it gets

[colker]

Stiff cycling shoes are the culprit. Try riding on platforms and soft sole shoes. You won´t be slower and you will feel no numbness but your dress code will be gone.