Originally Posted by Rowan

It's called Morton's Neuroma, and there have been quite a few discussions about it in various sub-forums here. It is caused by scrunching the metatarsals together and putting pressure on the nerves that run through that part of the foot. It's not, as far as I am aware, a circulation issue. The Specialized metatarsal button generally works because it helps to spread the bones apart and relieve pressure on the bones.

Pedals are almost irrelevant. Most shoes have a metal plate inside them where the cleats screw in. It might be that the pedal exerts pressure on the plate, but it's actually the plate that people perceive as causing an issue.

For mine, the actual problem in many cases is the depression in the footbed of the shoe that accommodates the cleat. One solution that a riding friend of mine came up with was to sllp an expired credit card into the footbed over the cleat plate. It builds up the footbed and stops the metatarsals from collapsing in on each other.

Long distance riders also generally move the cleats as far back as they will go in the slots. It puts the pressure point a little further behind the metatarsals and for general, ordinary non-competitive riding, the slight loss in leverage is not going to be significant.

There are other ad hoc solutions if you want to keep the same shoes. Thinner socks help and not doing up the laces or straps so tightly are among them.

I have doubts that a really stiff sole is going to help if the fundamental problem is the footbed. I have a pair of Shimano road shoes that really seem to constrict the ball of my foot. I have been a long-time user of various MTB shoes -- Shimano, Specialized and my current favourites, Diadora -- and they have generally been much more comfortable for general, ordinary, non-competitive (but long-distance) cycling.