Cyclists bring a particular challenge to podiatric practice. Running and other sports have a swing phase to gait when the foot is off the ground and not weight bearing. Cycle “gait” does not really have a swing phase and the foot is constantly “weight bearing”. This makes for an unusual injury risk profile due to the constant “stance phase”. Added to that is the relatively tight cycling shoes that cyclists tend to wear means that there is not a lot of room in the cycling shoe if foot orthotics or some sort of in-shoe modification is needed. The set up of the cycling for efficient biomechanics is the first step. Cycling foot orthotics can be challenging but when they are needed, they are needed. Given the distances and days that cyclists compete over, the risk for overuse injury is high if the mechanics are not set up properly. You often learn more about the problems of cyclists on cycling forums than cycling on podiatry forums.

Incoming search terms:

• cycling orthotic
• cycling shoe orthotics
• orthotics and cycling