Heels hitting the cranks - solutions?

My heels hit the cranks when I pedal. Has anyone had this problem, and if so what was your solution?

I have Speedplay X-2 cleats.

My feet are naturally toe-out, heel-in, and the right foot points out at more of an angle than the left due to ankle/tendon surgery that I had 20 years ago. I've had pain from a patella tracking problem in the right knee in the past, though it has not bothered me lately.

The first attempt to solve the problem of the heels hitting the cranks was to move the cleats slightly. After that adjustment, I focused on pedaling with my heels out a bit so that they wouldn't hit the cranks. The result was a resurgence of the patella-tracking pain. I've been able to minimize that pain by going back to hitting my heels, though it still hurts a bit going uphill.

I'm talking to the fitter at the LBS about getting longer spindles on the pedals, to move my feet away from the bike more. Unfortunately X-2 pedals don't have that option, so I'll have to buy X-5s which I gather are not cheap. But that won't happen for more than a week, because the fitter will be out of town at a training course.

I realize that longer spindles might solve the heel-strike problem but also cause different alignment problems. So while I'm waiting, I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone has any experience with this issue.

Thanks!!

Maybe ask your fitter about using 'kneesavers' or a similar product to lengthen the spindles on your X 2's or if you just need a slight additional length maybe washers. Hoping widening the Q factor doesn't cause the patella-tracking pain to come back though.

I just realized I had it backwards in my post -- currently I have X5 pedals, and I would have to get X2s in order to get the different spindle length.

Interestingly, the stock X2s come with a shorter spindle than the X5s.

http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.x

Also, I'm looking at a ruler. My current pedal spindle is 55 mm. Longer options are 56, 59 and 65. I suspect 56 would not be long enough to give me the heel clearance I need. The 59 mm spindle would probably be sufficient, but 4 mm could really be a big difference in terms of overall hip-knee-foot alignment.

Hmmm.....

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Originally Posted by ny biker

My heels hit the cranks when I pedal. Has anyone had this problem, and if so what was your solution?

I have Speedplay X-2 cleats.

My feet are naturally toe-out, heel-in, and the right foot points out at more of an angle than the left due to ankle/tendon surgery that I had 20 years ago. I've had pain from a patella tracking problem in the right knee in the past, though it has not bothered me lately.

The first attempt to solve the problem of the heels hitting the cranks was to move the cleats slightly. After that adjustment, I focused on pedaling with my heels out a bit so that they wouldn't hit the cranks. The result was a resurgence of the patella-tracking pain. I've been able to minimize that pain by going back to hitting my heels, though it still hurts a bit going uphill.

I'm talking to the fitter at the LBS about getting longer spindles on the pedals, to move my feet away from the bike more. Unfortunately X-2 pedals don't have that option, so I'll have to buy X-5s which I gather are not cheap. But that won't happen for more than a week, because the fitter will be out of town at a training course.

I realize that longer spindles might solve the heel-strike problem but also cause different alignment problems. So while I'm waiting, I thought I'd ask here to see if anyone has any experience with this issue.

Thanks!!

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I have the same problem - my right foot is extremely toed-out and the right knee has problems (multiple surgeries have rendered it prone to patella pain).

My solution was to rotate my hips. I turned the saddle slightly to the left so that my right foot, in its natural position relative to my hip, was more parallel to the crank. This might not work for you if your knee also has a problem.

Work on strengthening your hip rotators, and on foot strength and flexibility so you're weighting four corners equally inside your shoes? Have you worked with a PT since your surgery?

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

Work on strengthening your hip rotators, and on foot strength and flexibility so you're weighting four corners equally inside your shoes? Have you worked with a PT since your surgery?

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I don't understand what weighting four corners means.

I worked a with a PT for many months after the surgery. I worked with another PT when the knee pain first surfaced, which was probably 5-7 years ago, I don't remember exactly. The knee rarely hurt after that, until recently when I tried to keep my heel from hitting the crank by changing the angle of my foot relative to the pedal.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

I don't understand what weighting four corners means.

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The parts of your feet that are ideally the most weightbearing are the first and fifth metatarsal heads, and each side of the heel. The three arches in the foot - medial, lateral and transverse (metatarsal) are there to absorb shock and position the feet around whatever we're walking/running/standing on. A lot of times, especially when we don't spend any time barefoot on uneven surfaces, we let our feet go "splat" with nothing really supporting or aligning our bodies below the ankle. That leads to all kinds of problems further up the chain.

This is all stuff I learned the hard way. They put me in foot orthotics when I was six years old rather than try to find shoes that fit my flippers. I've come a long way in the past few years, but there's 40 years of weakness and rigidity to undo, and it's taking time. If you had bones fused during your surgery there may be a limit to how much your feet can do, and you may need to rely on orthotics to some extent, that's why I asked about PT.

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Originally Posted by OakLeaf

The parts of your feet that are ideally the most weightbearing are the first and fifth metatarsal heads, and each side of the heel. The three arches in the foot - medial, lateral and transverse (metatarsal) are there to absorb shock and position the feet around whatever we're walking/running/standing on. A lot of times, especially when we don't spend any time barefoot on uneven surfaces, we let our feet go "splat" with nothing really supporting or aligning our bodies below the ankle. That leads to all kinds of problems further up the chain.

This is all stuff I learned the hard way. They put me in foot orthotics when I was six years old rather than try to find shoes that fit my flippers. I've come a long way in the past few years, but there's 40 years of weakness and rigidity to undo, and it's taking time. If you had bones fused during your surgery there may be a limit to how much your feet can do, and you may need to rely on orthotics to some extent, that's why I asked about PT.

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They cut my heel off with a battery-operated saw and moved it about 1/4 inch to take pressure off the torn tendon, thus changing the angle of my foot relative to my leg.

The original PT focused on recovery from the surgery. The second PT, prompted by the knee pain, focused on keeping my knee at the correct angle over my foot when bending my knee.

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Originally Posted by ny biker

They cut my heel off with a battery-operated saw and moved it about 1/4 inch to take pressure off the torn tendon, thus changing the angle of my foot relative to my leg.

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Wow! That's both amazing and kind of nuts!

Oh, yikes. Were you prescribed orthotics? It seems like you'd need something in your shoes to take the place of what they cut off your heel?

They moved the bone and then reattached it with a giant screw. I don't wear orthotics. The arch on my right foot is flatter than the one on the left, and if you're paying attention you'll see that my right calf muscles are smaller than my left calf muscles. Otherwise you don't really notice it. For several years after the surgery I had to make sure to wear shoes with good arch support, but now even that is not very important.

When I was planning the surgery, and I asked the doctor questions about what he was going to do, he was reluctant to tell me all the details because he thought it would freak me out. I was oddly okay with it.

I was reading more on q-factor. My current bike has a compact double and my old bike had a triple, and I was okay riding the old bike, so maybe moving my feet apart by a few more millimeters won't cause problems after all. In fact the reason I switched from SPDs to Speedplays was because my knee bothered me a bit when I first got the bike with the compact double.

I think this was already mentioned, but what about knee savers. Do you think they might help?

I suspect knee savers might be too long for me, since they start at 20 MM. But if I'm wrong and I need to move my feet out more than the Speedplay pedals allow, I will definitely mention them to the fitter.

My DH has always had the same problem with his heels hitting the spindles. He has very large feet and toes out. He has used both Speedplay X-2s and Zero pedals and still has the problem. Kneesavers worked for him. They may not solve your problem, but they are an inexpensive solution compared to some of the others, if they do happen to do the trick for you without being too much.

Good luck, ny biker!

Going with a longer spindle has already been mentioned several times. It will help you clear your heel and if you were comfortable on a triple before and are not on the compact double, it may be all that you need.

However, it sounds like you are collapsing into valgus with the right side being worse that the left and you will likely benefit from working on muscle balance around the hips. It's a lot of the same kind of motion that you worked on with your PT to correct knee alignment, you likely just need to learn to apply it to your pedal stroke and build up your muscle endurance. I'm basically talking about the same issue that OakLeaf mentioned. Foot orthotics in your cycling shoes can help correct some of the valgus collapse but ultimately, you want to address the muscle weakness that is causing it as well.

If muscle weakness leading to valgus collapse is the issue, going to a wider pedal stance may aggravate your knee pain.