I had a similar issue a couple of years ago. Couldn't do group rides on my road bikes. Anything approaching a hammerfest that demanded constant pedaling pressure would cause painful hotspots. Then my feet would tense up, with a domino effect of muscle cramps all the way up my legs.
To prevent hotspots on my metatarsals I switched to ProFoot Miracle insoles. Only $8-$10 at the pharmacy, better than anything else I've tried including custom made orthotics. I've had foot problems since childhood -- AA width feet, high arches, very bony with little natural padding over the bones -- so I've tried 'em all.
The ProFoot Miracle insoles are very lightweight and thin so they'll fit almost any shoe. Very resilient memory foam, not gel. My first set is still good after 18 months. I bought spares but they don't need to be replaced very often.
Regarding recurrent nerve pain even after an injury has healed, try
Ted's Pain Cream. Costs $19 with free shipping, either from Ted's or Amazon. I'm on my second tube for my neck and shoulder injury. The injuries technically healed but I had residual pain a year later.
The first time I tried it I wasn't impressed. But the injury hadn't healed -- I still needed opiates for pain control last year. The tech literature on the website indicates it works best on healed injuries that have lingering pain because the nerves get "stuck" in pain mode. So I tried it again this summer, a year after the injury. This time it worked.
There were some odd pressure points of extreme pain along my scapula from the 2018 injury (I was hit by a car). Besides the overall aching, there were three or four spots about the size of a dime that felt like a jolt of electricity when touched. No amount of physical therapy or chiropractor treatments helped. On a scale of 10, just touching those spots felt like an 8.
So about six weeks ago I got a fresh tube of Ted's and one of those long handled percussion massagers with two heads the size and shape of golf balls. I dabbed the cream on the tips and used it to apply to my shoulder and neck. Within two weeks the pain was significantly reduced -- around a 3-4 on the 10 scale. I can still feel a bit of occsasional discomfort but it's tolerable. Varies with barometric pressure and how long I've ridden my bike.
The theory is that the resveratrol "resets" the nerves that were stuck in pain mode. Sounds like voodoo but read the website for info. The developers are neuroscientists, not hippies or new age woo purveyors. They originally planned to research CBD for topical use but found it didn't work well. And research showed resveratrol (from grapes and Japanese knotweed) was potentially more effective as a topical application rather than orally ingested, for surface level pain from old injuries -- scars, joint and tendon/ligament pain, etc.
I'd suggest getting the original Ted's Pain Cream with wintergreen. It's reportedly more effective. They later developed an odorless gel for folks who dislike the smell, or can't use salicylates -- including Ted himself. But he admits the original formula probably works better for most folks.
I recommend this stuff so often I should own pieces of the companies. But I'm just a satisfied customer.