How to prevent numb feet while cycling — why it’s happening and how to stop it

Achey backs, sore shoulders, bad knees… any form of discomfort whilst cycling is far from ideal, but in this article we’re looking at one of the most common forms of cycling discomfort: numb feet. It might not be as painful as other areas, but numb feet have ruined many a long ride so, we’re back with Luke Craddock of Synergy Performance to see what we can do about it…

> The things I learnt from a professional bike fit

Craddock says: “Getting numb feet is very common because our feet are basically a really dense structure of nerves and capillaries. The job they have is to basically stabilise our body when we’re walking on uneven ground barefoot, but when you put on a carbon or plastic-soled shoe that is super rigid and super stiff, there’s no ability to flex.

“What happens is all the muscles and the capillaries around them don’t really work as they should. They don’t get activated, and the foot kind of goes to sleep in the shoe.”

If you look at the riders on a pro cycling team, they just look good, don’t they? Matching kit, matching bikes, matching components and matching helmets. But there is one area that hardly ever matches: their shoes.

Even with an unlimited budget, a pro cycling team struggles to find any one brand that will suit all of its riders – but there’s a lot more to comfortable feet on the bike than the right shoes. 

Without delving too deep into the rather intimidating process of shoes, cleat positioning, arch support, toe box volume, dials vs laces, float and more, here are the three most common reasons why your feet are going numb on the bike.

1. Restrictive shoes

The first area is a predictable one, and that is a restriction of blood flow to your foot. It’s a pretty simple thing: if your shoe is too narrow, then the blood will not effectively be able to pump through the foot. And the by-product of this is that you’ll start getting numbness.

Craddock suggests that if you notice that one foot is slightly wider than the other when standing, and this is the foot that goes numb first, then it’s a pretty good indication that your foot numbness is probably related to restriction of blood flow rather than anything else.

If your foot numbness comes on when it’s warm, then it’s another indicator that it’s your shoes which are the problem. When it’s hot our feet swell, and Craddock explained that it’s not uncommon for people to come to him saying that their feet are going numb two or three hours into a ride. Here in the UK, many of us might start our rides at 9am when it’s five degrees, and by the end of the ride at midday, it could be 15 or 16 degrees.

To find well-fitting shoes, Craddock suggests taking the insoles out of them, placing them on the ground, standing on the insoles and observing how your foot fits on that insole: “It’ll give you a good understanding of how your foot wants to spread and splay out when the restriction of the shoes is removed.”

Feet are becoming wider, because humans are generally walking less and wearing trainers nowadays.

“Ideally we want the sole of the shoe to match the width of your forefoot”, says Craddock. 

> Best road cycling shoes 

Another thing to bear in mind is that your old (comfortable) shoes might have been the wrong shape all along, but the worn upper is now more supple. Replace them with the same and the new, stiff upper might cause restriction.

Craddock adds that finding the right shoes can feel like a bit of a minefield: “Don’t buy shoes according to what looks nice. There will be a shoe that fits your foot that looks nice as well.”

2. Improper support

Many of our bike fitting features talk about insoles, and this one does too! Craddock explains that insoles are sometimes called “arch touchers” rather than “arch support”, and thinks that this is bang on.

Most people have 20 to 25 millimetres of arch height, but this is rarely accounted for with the thin foam insoles that usually come with shoes. There are some really good – and cheap – off-the-peg options out there though, which enable your foot to touch more of the bottom of the shoe. This lets the nervous system calm down and reduce the compensation that’s potentially occurring.

> A pro bike fitter’s top 10 cycling products to make you faster and more comfortable on the bike

It’s the compensation your body is doing, whether that’s clenching of the toes, whether that’s the pointing of the toe through the top and the bottom of the stroke. All these things massively increases the chance of numbness in your feet, so we want to avoid that.

“As a consumer you probably wouldn’t be very happy if you spent £300 on the shoe and you didn’t get an insole, but I think that it would be a good thing”, says Craddock.

“Shoe manufacturers have to cater to everyone. They can’t have an arch support that would cause damage or another issue, but the result is that it’s almost always nowhere near enough support.”

> 7 reasons why your bike doesn’t fit you

I was keen to find out what proportion of UK cyclists would likely benefit from a set of aftermarket insoles. Craddock admits that he sees a swayed reality of the population (often cyclists with fit issues), but has found that the vast majority of riders would benefit: “The only case where the thin bit of foam inside is optimal is when riders are flat footed.”

3. Cleat position

The third area to look is the set-up of the cleats. Craddock says there are “a lot of old school ideologies on the internet, on forums that say to put the cleat really far forward, put it under the ball of your foot. [But] if you put the pedal axle directly under the ball of the foot, the first metatarsal, you drastically increase the likelihood of getting numbness.”

Craddock explained that not only is the ball of your foot a delicate structure, but putting the pedal axle here can also promote instability in the foot. As we’ve already outlined, this can cause numbness.

Pushing the cleat further back will help to stabilise the foot and engage larger muscle groups such as the hamstrings and glutes. It also reduces how much the foot behaves as a lever, and how much your calf is having to work as a lever. If you take your insoles out and can see distinctive toe marks, then it’s a clear indication that there’s some instability in your feet.

Craddock adds that the limiting factor when adjusting cleat position is often the shoe itself. It’s only in the last few years that the holes in the bottom of the shoe have become more sensibly placed. 

> The most common bike fit mistakes and how to avoid them

“In cycling there aren’t generally rules of thumb, but what I would say is: if you’re unsure, pull your cleats all the way back on the shoe. It’s going to help stabilise the foot. It’s a good place to start from. There’s going to be no downside or negative to doing that, and the likelihood is it won’t be far enough back based on shoe manufacturers. 

“When you’re looking for a shoe, look for ones which have slits, rather than just three holes drilled into the shoe. Normally you pay a little bit more for that, but it’s worth it.”

Let us know whether you suffer from numb feet in the comments below, and anything else you’ve done to alleviate it.