… all sounds very dramatic doesn’t it! I saw a physiotherapist at the weekend that said that he thought the cause of my knee pain was my flat feet. I thought I would see if anyone else has had similar problems.
I need to get some orthotic insoles and was wondering if anyone knew some good ones for mtb shoes?

Would think they’d be more important for the shoes you wear during the day. Would cleat position be more relevant for mtb shoes? I got some from ebay, were about £6, would recommend getting a set for any shoes you wear regularly.

Yes I’ve had problems in the past for the same reason. Mine came in the form of chronic knee pain after a couple of hours riding. I was adived by a cycling physio to try specialized shoes , a dealer should have a board you stand on that tells you what insert you need to straighten your knee up.

Worked for me so far

Nope I’m 46 loads of sports done in my life only issues with my left knee are due to ripping a quad and damaging medial and ACL doing stupid stuff. I get knee ache but mainly due to too much riding under pressure. Saying that I’m signed up for a long run soon so that might show a different side.

I USED to get chronic knee and foot pain when i wore my hockey skates, persevered with several different pairs of skates, many attempts at heat moulding etc, but all my problems were solved when I started using superfeet insoles.
I use yellows, which have a higher instep and are a little higher at the heel.
I would hesitate to recommend these for running shoes, as they are quite firm, my point is to say yes, insoles can make quite a difference ime.

This all sounds very promising! I’ve had chronic patellar tendonitis for a while and hoping this could be part of a lasting solution.
dvatcmark: did your knee pain completely resolve with the specialized shoes?
I think RichPenny, you might be right… I’ll get some insoles for my everyday shoes. I work outdoors, so spent a long time on my feet.
Its kept me off the bike for a few years, so I’m hoping it can be my solution and perhaps for anyone who stumbles on this thread.

I had to do sone stetches to loosen iff a tight ITB which was a side affect of the poor knee position and also paid for a deep sports massage on that leg but yes the spesh shoes with a high insert in the foot with the collapsed arch sorted it fine.
I just need to keep doing regulatve post ride stretches to make sure my ITB doesn’t get tight again.

Yep used to have knee pain due to non-existent arches. Been wearing orthotic insoles for the last 20 years – no more knee pain. As RichPenny says, it’s more important for off the bike than on – saying that I do wear them on the bike too.. Get your GP to refer you to a podiatrist and get them on the NHS.

I’m a total flattie too, including the front of my foot

These are cheap and pretty good for all-day wear in work shoes but tend to get waterlogged in sports shoes so I wear specialized BG greens for that

Not knee pain for me at the moment, but do get plantar fasciitis which makes the heels hurt like buggery. Come to think of it did have an IT issue with left knee. Was diagnosed as being related to bad back and since I have been sleeping with a cushion supporting my back has pretty much gone away. Now wearing running shoes that offer lots of arch support and has definitely made a difference. Will now get inserts for other shoes!

Ive EXACTLY the opposite problem, Charcot-Marie-Tooth syndrome means horribly high arches and hammer toes. I had orthotics after my feet were rebuilt in my early teens but not bothered since. Do get psins but put it down to increased age & 30+yrs of working on my feet.
Thing is, I’m having ongoing problems with my right foot when on the road bike, simply cannot get the foot to feel in the right position which leads to knee stress. Feels as though I’m having to twist my foot as far as the pedal/cleat interface will allow (using SPD-SL) because of the shape of my feet and way they naturally point I can’t get the cleat to engage unless its in a very narrow window & then my foot feels wrong.

well, i’ve no idea if its any help, but if anyone else is in the same boat, I found this website quite useful. I went for the Green SuperFeet from Wiggle (they offer free returns!). Think i’ll try some specialized footbeds for by cycling shoes too.

muddydwarf, have you considered an MTB pedal? Time ATAC or something that offers a similar float?

Ive no problems with mtb SPD’s on all my other bikes, but I don’t like the loose and rattly fit of them on the road bike.
Perhaps I need a different type of road pedal.

Thanks all. Apologies for the thread hijack, but I could do with some advice, please.

I too have collapsed arches, I used to overpronate, but after using plastic arch inserts, my left foot seems to have stabilised and my right is underpronating slightly. It’s definitely slowing me down, both on the bike and on the treadmill.

I’ve suffered quite a lot of knee pain of late, is it worth bothering my GP about or should I try those Specialized shoe inserts?

PJM, I’ve recently spoken to a number of people about a similar sort of situation. The general concensus is to try off the peg orthotics, like you have done. If they had any positive result, then you should move to custom made orthotics. Mainly because if you have collapsed arches, you’ll need corrective insoles on a permanent basis. These might be available from your gps referral, otherwise they’re about £300 a pair. It sounds like you need a different degree of support for each foot, and for this I understand that custom orthotics is the only way to go.

The specialized shoe inserts might be worth trying, but they’re going to offer little more than the arch supports you’ve been wearing. Having spent a good carbon road bikes-worth of money on trying to have my knees fixed, I’m angry at the thought it could be something so simple as orthotics. If I think about how much I spent on bikes, components and all the extra crap, £300 really doesn’t seem bad if it means I can ride my bike again!

Hope that helps. Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor 😯

Many thanks bohngy.

I’ll make a call to my local GP and see if they’ve a resident podiatrist.

The arches I was given were made of rigid plastic and had a hollow moulding underneath, so they just sank into the footbed of my shoes over time. I’ve just bought a pair of arch supports from Boots and there’s no knee or tendon pain this morning.

Given that I’d happily pay out £300 for a slightly better rear shock, I may just bite that bullet if required for the sake of my knees and Achilles tendons.

I have same problems and have also had knee and foot surgery. Have worn custom orthotics for last 10 years or so and they do the job very well. I took a variety of the Spesh ones to my foot specialist and he selected the one (blue) that was closest match, for use when riding. I use the custom plastic ones all the time when not on bike, and have Spesh blue ones in all 5 pairs of riding shoes/boots. Also use Spesh shoes exclusively as they have a built in 1.5 deg varus wedge in the moulding.

Worth going to see a good sports podiatrist

interestingly I was told that for knee pain in particular orthotics are more important on bike than off. I don’t have collapsed arches, just a natural angle to my forefoot that needs a wedge under it. The premise being when walking/running you roll along your foot whereas on teh bike you foot is stationary so any misalignment at the foot is more constantly transmitted to knee.

No idea which is true but orthotics have certainly helped me.

I ve had acl surgery. Since then I had constant knee pain. Seen lots of Physio s including some who deal with elite athletes. Had orthotics custom made as I had fallen arches. Worked for a while but caused other issues with hips and tight hamstrings and calfs.

A friend recommended trying a posture realignment specialist. Martin Higgins. http://physioyork.co.uk/about-us/martin-higgins-postural-restoration-specialist/

To be honest I thought it was a bit strange. But the exercises are really wierd lots of odd breathing exercises and posture stuff.

But it’s made a massive different to me. Never realised but my rib cage was all in the wrong position and so were my hips. Now all back in the rest place I have more weight on my heals, normal arches again and no knee pain.

If you are in Yorkshire worth a look

I can’t claim to have any major issues but I have had knee pain for a few years particularly after riding.

I don’t have any pain now after:
1. Rolling out the IT band – which helped a bit
2. Doing foot circles and stretches (back and forth with curled toes) – which stopped all the pain

Then I was annoyed at my knees clicking so I’ve started doing air squats, which has sorted that out.

I still had consistently tight right foot and calf until I started using a tennis ball to massage my feet – this is amazing!!! It loosens your hammies with out having to stretch and get rid of pretty much all foot/calf tightness and the stiff lower back on waking up!

I don’t understand orthotics – to me it’s a crutch which is not ever going to encourage the muscle growth / alignment improvement to fix the problem. I’d rather fix the problem not cover it up.

This sorted the wife and me out a treat