Numb toes. Any sports medicine experts here?

[tulip]

+1. Also make sure your shoes are not too small or too tight. Were you wearing thicker socks because of the cool weather?

[staceysue]

Thanks for the help!

The link didn't work for some reason, so I did a google search for 'hot foot'. The articles I'm reading describe it as very painful and often caused by tight shoes or small pedals. I have loose shoes and platform pedals, but still got me thinking . . . I had it happen once before, only mildly, and I was wearing the same shoes that time.

I'm going to try different shoes! Thanks for your help, Kalidurga and Tulip!

[KnottedYet]

You can get hotfoot on platform pedals, too.

The big issue is compression on the nerves that run through the ball of your foot (kind of between the "knuckles" of your foot)

Anything that will squish that neighborhood too much can cause hotfoot. Tight shoes/socks, concentrated pressure, swelling feet, dropped metatarsal heads, no metatarsal arch support, Morton's Neuroma, constant pressure, high heel shoes.

You can even get hotfoot on a stairclimber or eliptical trainer or barefoot on your kitchen floor while doing calf raises.

As long as you know what it is (someone is getting squished in your forefoot) you can play around with the conditions your forefoot experiences until you find the cause.

Sometimes feet just get juicy after you ride a while, and you need to loosen the laces partway through a ride.

[staceysue]

There isn't any pain, though - just numbness.

[Kalidurga]

It can be either pain, numbness, or both combined. I've only ever had numbness and changing to shoes that had more room in the toe box made a huge difference. I still get it every once in a while, but now I've got space to wiggle my toes around inside my shoe and that takes care of it. And thanks to Knott, I will now forever think of my feet being juicy while I'm doing so

To search here at TE, just click on Search in the nav menu across the top of the forum and type in "hot foot".

[Lakerider]

I was getting some numbness in my little toe a few months ago. After I changed my shoes I haven't had that problem since.

[staceysue]

I need to make the move to clipless pedals anyway, so new shoes are coming up! Not this fall, though . . . in the Spring. Budget constraints - ugh. In the meantime I'll just have to switch my tennies! I really appreciate all the commends, th ough. I don't kn ow why I never would have thought to blame my shoes. I was blaming my poor innocent saddle.