Thursday 15 May 2014

why the soles man?

Some people laugh at me when I talk about insoles being the most important thing ever.. but then the next day the same people will usually come to me complaining that there feet are hurting. I first learnt about how important it is to wear insoles when I myself was struck down with a nasty case of plantar fasciiits that left my arches stinging and me unable to go out cycling for months. It was all my own fault for not stretching my feet before I went cycling, not wearing the right cycling shoes without the right supports soles for me. I later found out that I needed to do all of this and was pretty much amazed about how just a pair of insoles could change everything for me.. I used to put up with dull aches in my feet, it wasn't so much pain but more fatigue and pressure which insoles helped stop all of that and helped stop all of that and made cycling far better for me... so that's why I blab on about them so much!

Plantar fasciitis a cylists nightmare

Cyclists are just as likely to get plantar fasciiits as runners... the amount of pressure put of the foot I would imagine that cyclists would have a higher chance of developing pf. In runners it is the pronation of the foot which can be blamed for many cases of this painful condition that can put you out of action... but for us cyclists it is the way we pedal and use our arches of our feet that is to be blamed. Plantar fasciitis is brought on by overuse and inflammation of the tissue called the plantar fascia found in the arch of our feet. People with PF usually complain of getting heel spurs.. a calcium like growth located on the heel that gets worse when pressure is applied to it.. this growth is a symptom of pf and shouldn't be confused as a being a different condition. Heel spurs go away once the foot has fully recovered. PF can take a while to fully heal up.. but the problem many people face and why pf keeps on reoccurring is that they go back into sports or cycling before the arch of the foot has fully healed up and back to full strength meaning that the arch can become inflamed more easily and comes back.. this is partly why many people may suffer months or even years with this condition. Arch support insoles that stabilize the movement of your foot and correct things such as pronation are great.. I always try to advise my friends to use them when we go out cycling and they complain about their feet hurting. You can buy custom insoles as well to get a more accurate fit.. but the topic of whether off the shelf insoles are just as good as custom ones is still being debated between athletes. There are lots to read on the web about PF, some of the information you can find is helpful and some can just confuse you even more, not everyone has the same reasons as why they end up with pf and not all treatments works for everyone either. Here is An interesting tumblr blog you can read on a persons jounry with plantar fasciitis... I find reading about actual peoples experiences with injuries far more enlightening and interesting than reading a boring generalized medical research paper