Hot Spots on Balls of Feet

[Aztec]

My dad (mid-60s) gets very painful 'hot spots' on the balls of his feet after approx 20 miles. He uses Look pedals, Sidi shoes, and has tried various insoles. Only moving the cleats around has helped at all, but it's still strictly limiting his time on the bike.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

 

[J-MAT]

Aztec:

Bummer. Hot spots are technically the beginning of a blister. Friction irritates and wears away the delicate skin of non-calloused feet and causes a hot, burning sensation. Too much friction will form a blister.

If you really want hot spots, join the Army and go into Special Forces or join a Ranger Batallion. You will quickly find your feet are more important than any other part of your body when you are unable to walk due to blisters/stress fractures.

I've seen guys feet look like raw hamburger meet from humping heavy rucksacks while patrolling for days on end, with the dermal layer(s) completely removed on the achilles and ball. Sometimes worn away to the point of bleeding. Literally, skinned alive. Ouch!!!

I never got a blister in the field because I trained my feet properly. I had callouses over 1/4" thick on the balls of my feet which was enough to prevent blistering under the most extreme situations, although I did get some hot spots once in a while.

I don't know how some guys continued with their feet torn up they way they were. The pain must have been excruciating. I didn't want to find out what that felt like so I prepared for it.

So what's the great secret that will toughen your dad's feet??? Have him spend all of his time indoors walking barefoot, no socks. He can do it outdoors as well, but that can get kind of nasty, hygine wise. Simple and free. What more could you ask for???

He will quickly develop nice callouses and the hot spots should be a thing of the past.

Put his cleats back where they were before providing they were correct to begin with. If they are not set properly, you will create another problem while trying to fix the first one.

Good luck!!!

 

[Aztec]

Now THAT sounds painful!

 

[J-MAT]

Aztec:

I couldn't believe how some feet looked. I've seen guys ordered to clean the wounds with a Scotchbrite pad (highly abrasive). Once, a Special Forces medic told a guy: "Scrub them clean or I'll do it for you." Talk about pain!!!

 

[2LAP]

Originally posted by Aztec
My dad (mid-60s) gets very painful 'hot spots' on the balls of his feet after approx 20 miles. He uses Look pedals, Sidi shoes, and has tried various insoles. Only moving the cleats around has helped at all, but it's still strictly limiting his time on the bike.

Any ideas?

Thanks in advance!

Given your dad's age you may want to consider circulation problems as a cause for the hotspots.

 

[cabbage74]

Originally posted by 2LAP
Given your dad's age you may want to consider circulation problems as a cause for the hotspots.

I agree. As a Podiatrist I can suggest a few ideas.

1st: Squeeze your Dad's big toe (or other area of foot), so that the blood is squeezed out and the toe goes white. You don't have to squash the whole toe, just one squeeze with your thumb. If the toe takes longer than about 3 seconds to return there may be a problem. Usually the blood return in less than 1 second (try your own toe/fingers.)

2nd: Run the back of you hands down his legs and across this feet (top and soles). There should not be an obvious change in temperature.

Finally a question, does you dad also get calf pain (burning again) when walking/riding, which gets better when he rests. If so this once again may be circulation.

I believe that all of these may come back with normal results, as 20 miles is a good distance and therefore any compromise to the circulation is probably going to be minimal.

Is you Dad on any blood thinning medication (aspirin/warfarin) It is often advisable as you get older to take some of these as they can reduce risk of other complications, as well as this problem (if due to circulation). Suggest to you Dad that he asks his local Doctor about these.

Hope this helped.
Malcolm

 

[cabbage74]

Sorry almost forgot, another topic reminded me. How tight does he do his shoes? They may restrict blood flow.

Malcolm

 

[Aztec]

Originally posted by cabbage74
Sorry almost forgot, another topic reminded me. How tight does he do his shoes? They may restrict blood flow.

Malcolm

We live 500 miles apart, so I'm unsure about all the above details. I'll check in with him. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[zakeen]

I get this from the the inside of the shoe where it is not flat and you can change the different type of pedals. Some shoes dont have this problem and a simple change in shoe would fix this problem.

What to look for, open the straps of the shoe and take out the soul(cant spell) and then look in the area where the pedal attach to on the inside of the shoe is you see a square that is removeable then that is generally the problem! What happens is this square slowly gos down and the remaining of the soul level stay flat and creates a sharp point or corner! When the ball of the feet connect to this is creates the pain! Look for a shoe that does not have this!

this could be something total different then what you have asked for!!!