Side-to-side foot ache

Riding Advice
1

Anyone experienced an ache in one (or more) foot while riding?

I’ve read this forum’s thread on foot cramps - but this isn’t it.

This is more of a hot-ache in my left foot while I’ve been riding a bit.

I should say it comes and goes - and some rides or when switching to new or not recently ridden route, nary-a-twinge

I should add I wear 5 10 Trailcross shoes, use a handle saddle - and ride holding the saddle 100% with right hand, 50% with both, on balls of my feel on pedals and I feel I have a pretty decent forward and centred position - weight into the saddle, and no odd upper body twists.

This is also h 29er with 137 cranks.

What do I mean my side to side paid? It feels like a strain or such over the ball section of the foot. Almost as if the micro adjustments in that foot area irritated something - muscle / nerve / tendon (I don’t know).

But my sense is that for some reason that side is being taxed when it doesn’t need to or when I’m not consciously seeking it to.

I’ve been triple checking my posture and how I drive the wheel forward. I’m pretty sure I’m using both sides equally in terms of power to the wheel and most of my balance in coming from the core - legs, feet. And arms / hands are used to grip saddle and to catch the odd unexpected balance off-pulse.

As it comes and goes, today I tested if it was shoe lace tension. But riding with it at normal and slightly tighter didn’t make much difference…

When holding bar with both hands, I think I did notice that that foot side imperceptibly working a bit less in terms of catching the odd shifts in balance - and perhaps I’m imagining things but I suspect my left foot is the one that first engages with any back pedal pressure for braking - so perhaps it is under more strain from being the first to soak up braking energy.

Annoyingly, today it didn’t fade as it has in past rides. Today it was with me for basically 95% and I just slogged on through the tough UK 34degree heat over the 14 odd miles.

Other rides it won’t be there at all, and others for the first few warm-up miles.

Anyway as this isn’t a cramp and seems hard to pin down a cause so I can correct techique, I decided to check in with the hive mind :pray:

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Not necessarily side to side but I used to get pain in the ball of my feet when I did downhill mountain biking and that was with large platform vault pedals and five tens.

I found that pressing down rolling a tennis ball under your feet helps as it increases blood flow, I roll it around whilst pressing down as hard as you can all over areas of foot and press down on painful spots doing a minute on each foot twice.

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Maybe move off the balls of your feet, center your pedal toward your arch. I know it’s not textbook but I find it more comfortable.

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I’ve recently noticed a similar pain, on the outside edge of the arch of right my foot. My wife is a PTA, so I asked her about it and she without hesitation said “It’s probably your shoes.” I’m going to experiment with different inserts. I already have some $$ Dr. Scholls inserts that I wear in all of my shoes, but maybe my riding shoes need more cushion. I ride in Five Ten Freeriders which are quite solid and have very little cushion.

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