Painful 5th Metatarsil area

[enduro2]

A few days ago I completed my first 100km ride on a reletive,y new roadie. My bike hasn't been professionally fitted but has been set to some reference scales and slight tweaks for comfort. I understand it's not a pn easy job finding a fitter in WA. (?)

The coastal ride I do is essentially flat, with undulations of mostly 5m but up to maybe 10m, very few of these though. Until this ride, the longest I've done is 60km. I do 45km of the same ride up to 3 times a week.

About a day after the 100km weekend ride I noticed a pain in my left foot 5th metarsil area and emanating down to the jojnts of the little toe on that side. Since then, i started up on some over the counter anti inflammatories which have reduced the discomfort some, but the injury is still there. I've not had this one before.

I'm wondering if anyone can offer a remedy or potential bike fit related fix thst may assist in reding future aggravation.

[RonK]

Sounds like gout.

[Leaf T]

Gout sounds likely And this is probably unkikely but worth mentioning. I had what's called Morton's neuroma which was surprisingly painful. Perhaps your cycling shoes are too narrow.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morton%27s_neuroma

[silentC]

Had a foot related injury a couple of years ago. Mine was a lisfranc, which is mid-foot behind the big toe, where there is a large protuberance like a knuckle (less obvious in some).

Anyways, mine was a stress-related fracture injury from kicking dirt into old tyres whilst building a retaining wall, and was stirred up by long rides.

It took about a year for it to come good. I had a bit of physio which was basically about getting the joint working. Some stretching exercises to get movement, and some massage of the tendons in the bottom of the foot (ouch). You can do that with a tennis ball.

None of the above may apply to your injury, but what i found was that it took a very long time for it to be pain-free. The physio said about 12 to 18 months and he was right.

Bike fit-wise, I tried to set my cleats up so that my feet were in a more natural position, which for me is slightly duck-footed. I also had some insoles fitted, which used a heat gun to heat them and the physio held my foot in the correct position until they set. Seemed to help, cost about $60 on top of the consultation fee.