‘Hot foot’, numbness and tingling are complaints
often reported by cyclists. The most common cause
of these issues – and the first thing to check – is your
footwear. As you cycle, your feet tend to swell slightly
– the longer you cycle the more they swell. If your
cycling shoe is too small or over-tightened the foot
has nowhere to expand into. This squeezes the nerves
and blood vessels, resulting in temporary numbness
and tingling. You may have experienced the same
‘dead’ sensation when you have slept heavily on an
arm or leg.
If you experience hot foot, numbness or tingling,
check your cycling shoe size. Standing in the shoes
unfastened should be comfortable, with no pressure
on the toes. When fastened they should still feel
comfortable but when you lift your heel it should stay
firmly in the shoe (i.e. the shoe should come up with
the heel).
Try different ways and levels of fastening. Everyone’s
feet are different shapes, even though they are the
same size. So one person may need a lot more
tension/fastening around the lower portion of the foot
compared with the top end and vice versa. Experiment
with your fastening if you believe your shoe size to be
correct. Sometimes it’s not the size of the shoe that’s
the problem, but the shape. It’s logical that differently
shaped feet can be better accommodated by differently
shaped shoes. See how differently shaped the shoes
are in the photo on the previous page.
The toe box – the available room in the front of the
shoe for the toes – is roomy in a Specialized shoe but
limited in a Sidi, which has a flatter, wider style (see
below).
More rarely, numbness and tingling can be caused
by the nervous system being placed under undue
stress or compression. Most commonly this will
be in cyclists with a saddle height that’s too high,
forcing the leg to hyperextend at the knee – this can
stretch a tight neural system and give the symptoms
described. However, it is usually also associated with
a line of posterior thigh pain.
@Will
‘Hot foot’, numbness and tingling are complaints
often reported by cyclists. The most common cause
of these issues – and the first thing to check – is your
footwear. As you cycle, your feet tend to swell slightly
– the longer you cycle the more they swell. If your
cycling shoe is too small or over-tightened the foot
has nowhere to expand into. This squeezes the nerves
and blood vessels, resulting in temporary numbness
and tingling. You may have experienced the same
‘dead’ sensation when you have slept heavily on an
arm or leg.
If you experience hot foot, numbness or tingling,
check your cycling shoe size. Standing in the shoes
unfastened should be comfortable, with no pressure
on the toes. When fastened they should still feel
comfortable but when you lift your heel it should stay
firmly in the shoe (i.e. the shoe should come up with
the heel).
Try different ways and levels of fastening. Everyone’s
feet are different shapes, even though they are the
same size. So one person may need a lot more
tension/fastening around the lower portion of the foot
compared with the top end and vice versa. Experiment
with your fastening if you believe your shoe size to be
correct. Sometimes it’s not the size of the shoe that’s
the problem, but the shape. It’s logical that differently
shaped feet can be better accommodated by differently
shaped shoes. See how differently shaped the shoes
are in the photo on the previous page.
The toe box – the available room in the front of the
shoe for the toes – is roomy in a Specialized shoe but
limited in a Sidi, which has a flatter, wider style (see
below).
More rarely, numbness and tingling can be caused
by the nervous system being placed under undue
stress or compression. Most commonly this will
be in cyclists with a saddle height that’s too high,
forcing the leg to hyperextend at the knee – this can
stretch a tight neural system and give the symptoms
described. However, it is usually also associated with
a line of posterior thigh pain.