# Top of foot pain



## Wolf616 (1 Mar 2019)

I recently bought a new bike (so yes, this may well be a fit issue!! bear with me) that is very similar in size to my old one, but the geometry is slightly more relaxed (previously Triban 500SE large, now RC520 large). I roughly replicated the fit on my old bike to my new one, with the caveat that I did it in a very unscientific way, and after about a week of cycling have developed a pain in the top of my foot (closer to the ankle than the toes).

From what I can tell from googling this could be extensor tendon related, but there appears to be very little information online about this type of injury in relation to cycling other than "move your cleats back" and "your calves are probably tight".

I know the latter is true - thanks to genetics all my leg muscles are abnormally tight. Having not cycled for many months before buying this bike, then immediately cycling 12 miles a day for a week (not huge, I know, but for someone with tight muscles...) there's a chance that with continued stretching this will resolve itself.

Unfortunately I can't move my cleats back any further as they are already as far back as they possibly can go, so that's currently untestable without buying new shoes. Before I do that: are there other fit issues that might cause top of foot/possibly extensor pain? Theoretically could the more relaxed geometry on my new bike mean I need the saddle height lower or higher?

I am considering getting a proper fitting, and also returning to a physio I used to see about my various (always left) leg issues - so feel free to suggest both those but also any other ideas welcomed...


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## SkipdiverJohn (1 Mar 2019)

Whack on a pair of cheapo resin Hybrid/MTB pedals and go for a ride in normal footwear. That will soon tell you if the problem is related to your forced shoe position on the pedals. I ride multiple different bikes with geometry ranging from pretty slack to moderately sporty and I never experience any foot pain of any sort - but then I refuse to have anything to do with clipless so my feet are always able to find their own naturally comfortable position regardless which bike I am riding.


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## Globalti (1 Mar 2019)

A professional bike fit would be an excellent investment because it sounds as if you're in a mess with your clear position. Don't hesitate, get it done before any other injury happens.

Who told you you've got tight muscles? This is the diagnosis "du jour" amongst sports therapists and sellers of classes and equipment. If your muscles are tight, how do you walk?


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## MichaelW2 (1 Mar 2019)

Firstly, are all your cranks the same length.
Second, do they spin true or make the pedal wobble.
To transfer riding position points of contact from one bike to another, you need to do away with angles which vary from frame to frame, and just use [x,y] measurements.
Set the bottom bracket at [0,0]
Mark x=0 on the top tube (with some tape) . Measure + and - from this mark to the bars and saddle.
Measure the y height of the top tube marker above the BB. Measure the height of saddle and bars above your TT marker.
Measuring directly from the BB is difficult and dirty.


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## Wolf616 (1 Mar 2019)

SkipdiverJohn said:


> Whack on a pair of cheapo resin Hybrid/MTB pedals and go for a ride in normal footwear. That will soon tell you if the problem is related to your forced shoe position on the pedals. I ride multiple different bikes with geometry ranging from pretty slack to moderately sporty and I never experience any foot pain of any sort - but then I refuse to have anything to do with clipless so my feet are always able to find their own naturally comfortable position regardless which bike I am riding.



Thankfully I've still got the pedals it came with, so maybe I'll give this a go. Find it so weird cycling without clip-ins these days though!



Globalti said:


> A professional bike fit would be an excellent investment because it sounds as if you're in a mess with your clear position. Don't hesitate, get it done before any other injury happens.
> 
> Who told you you've got tight muscles? This is the diagnosis "du jour" amongst sports therapists and sellers of classes and equipment. If your muscles are tight, how do you walk?



It was a physio who specialises in cycling, and to be fair a lot of the advice they gave me (and a bike fit) was spot on. I know my muscles are tight because of my general lack of flexibility from the waist down. That was not the whole diagnosis, I've also got some classic cycling muscle imbalances, particularly down the left side of my body too and so various strengthening exercises. Having stopped cycling for a year or so and therefore also stopped the exercises/new bike set-up I'm kind of back at square one. If it was the old pains I used to get I'd know what to do to deal with them, but top of foot pain is a new one to me!


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## vickster (1 Mar 2019)

Foam roller for calves etc

Try voltaren gel on the sore bit to relieve inflammation (assuming you’re not intolerant of NSAIDS)

Fit flat pedals to remove the cleat issue? Insoles in shoes?

Find a physio who does bike fits (I know of two v good ones if you happen to be in SW London)

I also have silly tight calves, no amount of stretching helps. I can walk as my gait compensates...I can’t squat with my feet flat though without the aid of a seat / Swiss ball!


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## SkipdiverJohn (1 Mar 2019)

Globalti said:


> A professional bike fit would be an excellent investment because it sounds as if you're in a mess with your clear position. Don't hesitate, get it done before any other injury happens.



I wouldn't describe a professional bike fit as an "excellent investment" - a waste of money more like. I've managed to ride all sorts of different sizes and styles of bikes with no ill effects since I was a small child and I have never had a bike fit. How did cyclists manage to adjust their bikes for the hundred year period in which bicycles existed before the advent of the "bike fit"?
Throwing away a hundred quid or more on a bike fit seems to be the default response of quite a few members on here to any possible set-up related issue, when the problem and solution may well be able to be arrived at with none or very little expense - such as a simple swap of pedals and footwear. For every cyclist who says a bike fit improved their cycling, there will be another one who says it made little or no difference - or even made things worse!


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## Wolf616 (1 Mar 2019)

vickster said:


> Foam roller for calves etc
> 
> Try voltaren gel on the sore bit to relieve inflammation (assuming you’re not intolerant of NSAIDS)
> 
> ...



Thanks for the offer! The physio I went to was actually in SW London, and I think you may well have recommended them to me a few years back... I now live in the East, though, so it's a bit of a faff for me to get back down there.



SkipdiverJohn said:


> I wouldn't describe a professional bike fit as an "excellent investment" - a waste of money more like. I've managed to ride all sorts of different sizes and styles of bikes with no ill effects since I was a small child and I have never had a bike fit. How did cyclists manage to adjust their bikes for the hundred year period in which bicycles existed before the advent of the "bike fit"?
> Throwing away a hundred quid or more on a bike fit seems to be the default response of quite a few members on here to any possible set-up related issue, when the problem and solution may well be able to be arrived at with none or very little expense - such as a simple swap of pedals and footwear. For every cyclist who says a bike fit improved their cycling, there will be another one who says it made little or no difference - or even made things worse!



I've always been reluctant to get a fit for these reasons (and more). But it's clear that my body is hypersensitive to anything being even remotely out of sync (i've got tendon problems in pretty much every part of the body you can imagine!) so maybe it's time to finally give in. Plus, I just got £175 from doing a bank switch so could essentially get a fit for free...


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## SkipdiverJohn (1 Mar 2019)

For me, getting a fit done would be an absolute last resort, only even considered after I had already exhausted all the obvious DIY avenues of trial and error adjustments, different footwear, clothing etc. The problem is that whilst there's no guarantee that DIY will be the solution you are looking for, there's also no guarantee that a bike fit will be the solution either.


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## vickster (1 Mar 2019)

Wolf616 said:


> Thanks for the offer! The physio I went to was actually in SW London, and I think you may well have recommended them to me a few years back... I now live in the East, though, so it's a bit of a faff for me to get back down there.
> 
> 
> 
> I've always been reluctant to get a fit for these reasons (and more). But it's clear that my body is hypersensitive to anything being even remotely out of sync (i've got tendon problems in pretty much every part of the body you can imagine!) so maybe it's time to finally give in. Plus, I just got £175 from doing a bank switch so could essentially get a fit for free...


Could be worth the faff, the one in Wimbledon is only £90

Otherwise, these guys are East (no experience tho)

http://www.eastlondonphysio.com/services/cyclingods/

Have you ever seen a rhematologist about your inflammatory issues?


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## Racing roadkill (1 Mar 2019)

Your probably pushing your foot forward and pedalling ‘toe down’, try deliberately riding with the heel down, and see what happens.


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## Shearwater Missile (3 Mar 2019)

Are you sure that it is related to the new bike and set up ? The only reason I ask is that I have foot pain as you described recently but that was after doing something different, cutting the grass in wellington boots ! Just a thought and especially after the good weather and doing gardening etc.


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