chefisaac

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indyfabz

[QUOTE=Neil_B;15231640]Hmm. It seems plantar fasciitis pain is in the heel.[QUOTE]

Yep. Typically there extending into the arch. I had it bad for months on end. A friend of mine had it so bad that she couldn't run or ride for well over a year even though she slept wearing splints. Tough for someone who comleted Paris-Brest-Paris twice. Fortunately, she has recovered.

OP: Hopefully it's not this, but my GF permanently damaged the tissue around the balls of her feet from years of walking around in fancy, tall shoes that were stylish but not functional. She experiences pain on longer rides and sometimes has trouble hiking and walking longer distances. If you have similar pain when walking, you might want to get checked out.

Fangowolf

Just something else to try. I have 5E width feet. My feet are almost square . Anyway when I wear shoes that are not wide enough, for a while, I get pain in the balls of my feet. I usually try whatever I'm doing barefoot and see if I still get pain. That might explain why the crocs aren't hurting as much. Also, I hate bowling shoes they are always narrow and I usually can not even get my foot into the shoes. I usualy ride with top siders as they have extra wide sizes and they stretch.

Peter_C

First - disclaimer - I am not any kind of Doctor, nor do I play one on TV - seeing a foot Doc - at some point has got to happen. Trust me, I've had no income since 2010, and I think I understand what it means to say give up what? Payment plans don't help when there is no $$ to make the payments with. But, I would *NOT* try some kind of brace, home-made or otherwise, as you could end up making things so very much worse.

FYI, both myself (currently bouncing around 300-304lbs, high here of 378lbs, highest ever of 419lbs) and my elder brother roughly 550 or so, use and wear both 'Crocs' and 'New Balance' walking shoes. The New Balance shoes last 2-3yrs, and I get roughly six months out of a pair of Crocs. My shoe size is 12EEEE.

Question? Do you ever get 'bruising' on the tops of your feet just behind the toes? That was my issue when I was heavier and not wearing Crocs or NB shoes. If so, my PCP stated that was simply caused by too much weight on my feet. I do not have any magic answer about this issue, but would like to add my $0.02 worth on the matter of spinning.

Something to consider? One of the things I did after getting one knee replaced was to practice 'spinning'. The idea was simply to teach myself again (after some 30 years off a bike) *how* to spin. I did this daily over a four month period of time, starting out at 10 minutes at a time, and slowly working to 30 minutes at a time. With the tension setting on the 'lowest' possible setting - working on form first, go slow if you need to, form, and practicing good form was the key - then once I got the form down again, I slowly built my cadence up to where I could maintain a cadence of 80-90rpm and still have good form!! Doing this works on fine-muscle control, and will result in better leg-health overall. Think of this as one of many different exercises you do to improve yourself. If you get to the point that you can spin at a 80rpm cadence with little or no load, just imagine what kind of muscle control that entails...

About the Doctor thing? It takes both time and effort, but both myself and my lovely wife have gotten rather good at calling Doctors to see which are willing to give cash paying patients a big price break. The foot Doctor I go to charges me a $25 office fee (must pay at the time of the visit), and removed both great toe-nails for a flat $200 cash (I have/had bad painful ingrown toe-nails). I've had no healthcare since 2011, and am in Pain MGNT and must be seen monthly, plus my PCP insists on seeing me every 90 days, and am on blood thinners, so must have an "INR" blood test done every 2-4 weeks for the rest of my life. I learned today that the place I was getting it done for $15 per test, is no longer offering it. So once again I am searching, as a 'normal' lab seems to like to charge around $100 per test it seems. So I do understand...

ill.clyde

This.

I don't mean to sound insensitive, but cripes, consult an actual doctor.

Sure, it's ok to solicit general ideas of what might be wrong, but at some point, before building rube goldberg devices to "fix" yourself, why not find out what the actual problem is? Financial considerations can be overcome, there are clinics, etc. There's no such thing as "it's impossible." Find a way.

There's a very good chance your homemade devices and fixes are making things worse. As are the crocs.

Sorry if I sound a bit harsh ... but seriously, if you're serious about losing weight and "fixing" yourself, stop looking for dimestore answers from "experts" on the internet. It drives me batty that we'll (as a society) spend money on such pointless and frivolous things but we won't finance our own health. I'm pulling for you in your effort to lose weight, but if you're going to do it, commit to doing the work, commit to being informed and educated and commit to your health, 100 percent. Half measures get half results.

Shellyrides

For any one who wants strong feet. No hoof no horse.
https://m.active.com/fitness/Articles..._Fast_Feet.htm

corwin1968

I didn't read all the replies but saw the recommendation to research plantar fascitis. Plantar fascitis can affect the ball of the foot, from my personal experience. If nobody has mentioned it, research Morton's Neuroma. The information you will find will talk about the top of the foot in between the toes buy my definately is felt in the ball of my foot as well. Anti-inflammatories will help if it's a neuroma. Biking and driving a car both irritate mine.

redvespablur

Timely, I have been having pain in left foot just aft of balls of feet both on stationary bike in runners and on bike in Sidi Genius 5.

Spinner not a masher with PI insoles in Sidis. I googled and came up with nothing. I have had Plantars (we call it fattyitis) when I was in low 300s but not for years and now about 260 and for me it was in the heel.

I will look some more at Plantars.

My pain comes on after about 10 minutes of riding and can e quite intense and disruptive to pedal stroke as I muck around trying to find better position etc.

Thanks+

nerys

no injury pain ache or discoloration that I can see in the top of the foodt.

pop is going to ask his podiatrist how much he would charge to see me. he kind of knows him so I am hopeful. as for "doing" what he says I need to do. that will depend on what it costs of course :-)

I have not tried any sort of long time span "walking" in barefoot. just not safe. at 422 pounds even pebbles and fine gravel are quite painful. I have socks with the little rubber nibs on the bottom for traction. I wonder if I can "get away" with walking the mall for a while in just socks (they might not like that) but at least it will be climate controlled and indoors so nothing dangerous to step on in all likelyhood. maybe I will make some costume shoes (covers the top of your foot but have no bottoms) so no one who glances casually will realize I am "barefoot"

then I can try walking around for an hour and "see what happens" as far as foot pain goes. can bring crocs in a bag to put on if someone stops me or the pain presents itself :-)

I will try the low resistance stationary this weekend. my concern with low resistance is low calorie burn. remember my primary goal right now is to burn burn burn the calories. but I also don't want to damage or make worse my feet. so have to find a safe healthy but hard working compromise.

I doubt its relevant at all but JUST in case it is my feet are pretty smelly. no fungal infection or anything like that they just tend to stink when I sweat. far more than "other" people. I tested this by smelling neil's shoes (never did that before so I had no idea what "other" people's feet smelled like)

his shoes were roses compared to my shoes :-) hehe (yes neil your feet still stink!)

Neil_B

Look, Nerys, stop the attention plays. I know you have a home. I've seen it. Take off the Crocs and walk around in it. Although from observation I've noticed your arches collapsing every step even in the footwear that you claims gives arch support, so its a moot point.

And please, remind me never to show you my nice hiking boots again. I was unprepared for your action. That said, Crocs are not a breathable shoe IMO, so if you spend all day in them, your feet perspire.

nerys

by the way I walked and stood around at work today barefoot (was outside much of the day digging out the Thing which I sold so was soaking wet took the shoes off to dry my feet) maybe 30-40 minutes?? no "pain" in my feet but I could feel what might have been the possible start of pain?

also my arches did not go "flat" (I understand flat feet might not mean literally flat) I could still feel an arch shape their and could still feel the gap at that spot. figure to mention that in case it helps. I guess I need to go longer barefoot for any usable data.

unprepared for my actions :-) when you put it in front of me I almost "pulled away" while you did not in any way put it "in my face" you put it close enough that if it were MY shoes I would have gotten a nice nasty whiff.

SO I was curious why I had not and too a closer sniff. turns out its just "my feet" that get like that and its not normal for "all" fat people :-) hehe

goldfinch

You like to experiment. Walk around with wet feet and see what kind of foot prints you make. Arch flatted even to some extent will show in the print. FWIW.

Neil_B

Nerys, we can do this at Planet Fitness tomorrow. Bring a couple of pieces of paper to step on.

Neil_B

Its moments like this one that I remember chefisaac's assertion that our journeys are so alike we could be brothers. In 2007 I hurt my back stacking firewood and spent two months getting physical therapy. During the initial examination the therapist told me I had flat feet and I protested that "my arches don't go flat. I can still feel an arch there and there's a gap between me and the ground." I didn't win that argument.

Neil_B

Dude. I just wanted to show you what a good high-end hiking boot looks like.

As for foot odor, I've never found Crocs to be a breathable shoe - its plastic, for goodness sake! - and you spent all day in them.

Neil_B

We didn't do this experiment. But Chris and I learned something anyway. While on the hike yesterday I was having pain in my right foot and so at one point I sat on a bench and removed my boot and sock. My arches are much worse than Chris'.... to the point they are nearly non-existent even when not under pressure. Chris, in comparison, has healthy looking arches when they aren't bearing any weight.

I've been experimenting since surgery with not wearing any arch support, since I was using them for knee pain and not foot pain. Well, I'm rethinking that now.