Numbness in toes
 

I just started cycling a couple weeks ago and I have been on one 110km ride and the rest have been little 12km to work a couples times a week. I began feeling some numbness in my the two outside toes on my left foot a couple days ago after riding into work and it hasn't gone away. What are the typical causes of such numbness (shoe fit, sitting on a nerve, et.)?

Your thoughts and suggestions are appreciated.

It's compression. Tissue gets squished, blood flow stops, tinglyness/numbness/hot spots begin.

Search google for "cycling numbness toes" to get a million different articles.

My first 3 guesses would be:
1. shoes are too tight
2. shoes are too flexy
3. insoles don't give you enough cushioning and/or support

my new Sidi's are doing this. I hope it's a break-in issue. I solved it by loosening the middle cinch and wearing them mostly on a fairly loose setting.

Cut them off :)

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...on%27s+Neuroma check that out as it seems to have some detailed information as well as an anatomical picture of the foot area and what is occuring

If the shoes aren't the problem, then try either dropping your saddle or setting it back a little bit.

This happens to me but I always thought it was just because it was cold out

I had some numbing in my toes when I first started. Even when I started using cleats and proper shoes.

I read somewhere on here that it might have had something to do with always pushing down on the pedals. On my next ride I tried to pull up on my strokes and I can now go for 100M+ without any sort of numbing or tingling.

Also the phrase "Throw you knees over the bars, wipe dirt off your shoe" thinking while pedaling has also helped me, not only get faster, but help to get rid of the numbing.

Great idea! Depending on how big those toes are, you could looking at shedding a few grams of weight. :roflmao2:

if your shoes are sidi....its probably cold numb.

I have some pearl izumi's. on a cool night, they are too well vented, but it affects my whole foot.

You need to get to the source of that problem pretty quickly. I didn't and am still fighting it after two surgeries. Please see the thread noted above on neuromas.

If you had 2 surgeries then either your surgeon doesn't know what a nerve looks like or it's not a neuroma.