How many varus wedges

Select the store you visit most frequently below and their stock information will show on product pages. Product ID: Features Corrects varus foot tilt outward Easy in-shoe adjustment Shims are placed under footbed Vented for breathability.

Close menu. Sign In It looks like you've already got an account! Need to create an account? Email Address. Another big one is crank arm length.

I often see people with poor hip mobility, a hip impingement FAI or other impingements aka "guttus interruptus" - their belly gets in the way.

When I say "poor", this means "just tight enough to limit movement at the top of the pedal stroke. This is one reason why we sometimes see knees coming out at the top of the pedal stroke - if the knee can't go up any higher, where else will it go? Saddle height and crank arm length are both important factors here and sometimes, a delicate balance.

So, I babbled on a lot there, but I hope that makes some sense. For the TL;DR read crowd - wedge is useful, but one of many tools in the tool kit. I think you're going to get a mixture of reactions from fitters here. Some love this stuff, some think it's snake oil. I'm a skeptic of everything but will consider everything I have at my disposal, and I'm always seeking ways to improve the process - from high-tech to back-to-the-basics analog simplicity.

It's all about finding what the rider and I feel is the best solution for their problem without creating a problem just so we can solve it. My bike fits are a partnership, and my customers become my students and are hopefully more well-versed in bike fitting and more self-aware after we're done. To specifically answer your last question: It depends, and it's complicated. If you have pain, you probably need something.

Post 6 of 8 views. Thank you Travis - a must read for anyone wanting to know more about wedges. Never had any issues. That was right about the time that Specialized launched their S-works shoes with the a canting built in.

Then I put in one extra wedge on each foot - problems completely solved. I'm now riding in the Giro Empire ACC's with two wedges for canting under each foot - feels fabulous. Post 7 of 8 views. Post 8 of 8 views. You might need them. But 1st you should make sure that your arches are properly supported. Most stock insoles are crap many shoes are also crap - but find an insole that supports your arch, or have one made.

See what that does to the tracking of your knees. Back To Forum Print Thread. I have found the occasional varus static reading that requires valgus wedging, but it is exceedingly rare.

They inhibit the central nervous system and increase risk of overuse injury. They are not alone. Most plastic charity style bracelets and many black sunglass frames have the same negative impact on the nervous system. I am seeing more and more Material Challenges with new fit clients. Specialized shoes are fine providing they fit well so they are unlikely to be the source of your problem. Specialized arch support insoles are also fine but in my view, they have the range of arch support heights wrong.

Even their highest option is only suitable for low arch feet from a corrective point of view. If you have low arch feet, then they may be ideal. You also mention that you keep your seat height on the high side to alleviate patella issues.

It maybe that a combination of a thinner shoe sole Specialized , a high seat height and riding in the mountains was enough to push you into injury. Hamstring and Achilles tendon issues at the same time are almost always related to too high a seat height. You should be able to use the Specialized shoes but as you seem to function within a narrow zone, make changes carefully and incrementally with only one change at a time.

I made a typo with the height of the shim. It is 3 mm thick. I had already read about material challenge and I have bought your shims and wedges a couple of days ago. The thing is my shimano shoes were worn out and i would need to buy a new pair. Can I ask you a few more questions: Are all shimano shoes similar?? Is there a difference in stack height between shimano and specialized shoes?? One point though. My experience with 10mm leg length differences like yours is that a 3mm shim is rarely enough.

Usually the shim would need to be in the 6 — 10mm range. There are exceptions but that is my general experience. What that means is that source of your left knee tendinopathy is likely to be caused by either: 1. The lack of enough shim height under the right side causes you to drop the right hip which in turn challenges the plane of movement of the left knee. You have the seat low enough to ensure that the right leg reaches the bottom of the pedal stroke well with only a 3mm shim but that seat height is too low for the left knee which in turn can cause anterior knee pain.

To answer your other questions; currently all carbon soled Shimano shoes have the same last shape to the sole and the same degree of heel and toe lift.

I tend to position every one as a reflection of their degree of function and the equipment they use and have never bothered measuring relative shoe sole thicknesses. Timing of this is spectacular as this is an issue I have been trying to wrap my head around for a bit and have been chatting with Paul at BFS about. I assume you mean "cut down BFS ITS wedges" rather than cleat wedges when referring to heel wedging … if not, can you explain how that works?

Have you any experience with Time ATAC cleat wedging — I struggle with it as the interface really struggles when using cleat wedges. G'day Craig, I mean exactly as the text says "Heel Wedging using cut down Cleat Wedges taped under the heel of the shoe insole". Have a look at the pic I've just loaded at the start of this post.

Re ATAC's and similar. It is for this kind of application that heel wedges are ideal with the caveat that enough can be fitted. In most cases this isn't an issue. Occasionally it is and the solution is as per the text of the post; i. If it is not possible to fit enough heel wedges without compromising the fit of clients heel in the heel cup for an ATAC or similar user, then a bootmaker needs to partially remove the sole from the upper, have you insert the desired number of wedges between sole and upper at the heel, and then reglue the heel of the sole to the upper.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the beauty of the testing protocol I use is that it gives certainty as to the orientation and degree of cant and the number of wedges or combination of wedges and arch support needed to achieve it.

Steve — Thank you for your time and efforts providing so much information to the cycling community! I'm sure you're helping many people. Can wedging or the lack of wedging cause hamstring issues? I know improper wedging can cause medial or lateral pain. G'day Jason, You're welcome. Call it therapy. Re your question — I've got to say yes, but there are usually other factors associated. Great information. Any idea how soon your patent will be approved. Correct me if wrong but often just looking at the knee tracking is not enough as the rider makes compensations.

Any other clues short of revealing your plans to tell when it is correct. Weight distrbution over the feet? Knee tracking or combination. Thanks Bill. If a rider has pelvic assymetry and drops down and forward to the left. Rt gluteal lifts off the saddle slightly and causing increased reach to the pedals on the right and a turning in of the knee on the left side at bottom of pedal stroke.

I have also set seat hieght for the longer functionaly left leg and shimmed the right cleat functionally shorter 4mm in hieght. Hard to ride around though with 1 eye closed. I would appreciate comments or suggestions. Hi Steve — I was wondering how Specialized shoes factored into your wedging stats? I think I remember reading somewhere maybe Paul's blog that the built-in wedging the shoes have usually didn't equate to a full 1.

Many thanks, Jason. G'day Bill, Patent approval? Who knows? These things move slowly. I can say patent pending at the moment in the U. S, but final approval still some years off. Elsewhere, still a while to go. Re whether varus wedging would positively affect your pelvic asymmetry; I can only speculate.

Each case is different and it depends on what root cause or causes are for the pelvic asymmetry. If foot alignment is the sole reason or a large part of it, I would expect your left foot to be morphologically quite different to your right. If this isn't the case, it is still a reasonably safe assumption that wedging is necessary to some degree on both feet as most people require it.

That closing one eye has a positive effect on symmetry on bike is something I've been delving into for several years. This isn't the place to go into detail here as some of that info is IP I am trying to protect for the moment. I know that doesn't help you much but if you can track down a chiropractor who is trained in Applied Kinesiology diagnostic methods and who uses coloured lenses as part of their 'tool kit', I'm happy to speak to them about your case and what I've found over the last few years.

I speak enough of their 'language' to make sense to people with that training but perhaps not to a layman without writing War and Peace about it. G'day Jason, I like Specialized shoes but sad to say,I have never seen any evidence of the 1 degree of varus correction that Specialized say is built in. I have fitted numerous people who had more than one pair of shoes with one of the pairs being Specialized.

Using the same methodology which is bulletproof if applied correctly in every case, from a proprioceptive point of view, the wedging numbers needed on both brands was always the same. This suggests to me that either the correction isn't there as claimed, or if it is, it is ineffective. Hi Steve, You seen to know a lot about the feet. Where did you study Podiatry? Not sure you did. You seem to refer to a lot of the people you see needing FF varus correction with wedges…hmmm interesting.

And foot mechanics you write of is all smoke and mirrors with no clinical or empirical evidence of the junk you place under cleats.

Skill and experience you seem to have is not evidence based or proven, purely subjective musing. You rightly acknowledge FF varus is extremely rare…so get your terminology correct.

How do you correct RF motion of the foot with FF wedging…. What the hell is proprioceptive clarity stuff you purport extensively. Never read that in a foot and ankle journal. If you could provide some references to this phenomenon it would be appreciated. I think you should re read the posts because you are implying a couple of statements on my part that I have not made. Secondly, the quickest way to answer your charges is this.

I think scepticism is healthy. I gave 2 workshops on just this subject, foot correction for cyclists, at the Tour Down Under Sports Medicine Conference in Adelaide in They are the ones I remember, though the bulk of the rest were health professionals.

Your scepticism was shared by many of the audience initially, though they were more polite about it than you have been. By the end of the workshops, there were no more sceptics.

Additionally, I count amongst my fitting clients, 2 professors of anatomy, several podiatrists and numerous other mainstream health professionals. None of them have an issue with what I have done with their feet or those of other fit clients, as they have experienced the process first hand.

I expect that the best way to resolve your scepticism is to make you the same offer I make to anyone. I am happy to give personal demonstrations on request.

Send them in. G'day ETrust, It came as a surprise to me initially but I suppose it shouldn't have. The ability of dyslexis to process some aspects of the sense of vision can be influenced by using coloured filters. There are other applications as well as I'm finding. I have read your blog with interest and I must be honest I do truly believe that your methods of fitting cyclists must work. But, I read your blog because I am keen cyclist and runner and from time to time different cycling related injuries pop up on me which I am sure are related to positional issues on my bike.

So i first read your basic premise then onto arch support. Your argument for arch support is that unlike natural running natural being running that occured for the many 's of years before raised heels and supported arches became the norm back in the 's cycling has no need for a flexible arch due to the fixed nature of the pelvis and much lower force through the feet, legs and pelvis. So I am going to take your advice taken get some arch support for cycling shoes.

Onto proprioception, I fully agree that proprioception is vital in any activity and using the analogy of running again, the perfect proprioceptive foot set-up is running barefoot assuming you have always run this way but I couldn't understand why arch support helps with proprioception can you simplify for me again please — if you have time?

Finally, having decided that arch support is the way forward for me I then read wedging and I am at a complete loss as to how I know I need wedging other than to put some wedging in certain places and see how it feels, is this summary unfair. G'day Rich, Re your last 3 paragraphs; I think your summary is fair. To explain more fully; I use a testing protocol that quantifies proprioceptive feedback from the feet when force is applied to the pedals. The testing protocol only gives a 'yes' or 'no' response.

There is no 'nearly right' or 'slightly wrong', just 'yes' or 'no'. I use the protocol to determine the necessary degree of wedging vs arch support as well as the ideal placement of the wedging; i. Unless you and I were in the same room at the same time, you don't have access to that testing protocol.

So here is what I would do in your case. Fit your arch support at Level 2, slightly intrusive and once you are used to that and aren't aware of it any more except when focusing on it consciously, pedal away and ask yourself where you feel pressure on the forefoot in your cyclng shoe.

Is the pedaling pressure evenly spread across the foot? If yes, you may not need wedging. Not needing wedging isn't rare particularly on the left foot but isn't common either. However if you feel more pressure on the outside of the foot which is quite common, wedge towards the outside of the foot. That is progressively fit 1 or more wedges oriented so that the thick side of the wedge s faces the crank arm until you feel that the pedaling pressure is evenly distributed.

That will get you fairly close to the mark in most cases. If though, you feel more pressure on the inside of the foot, then do the converse. Just be aware that very, very few people need wedges oriented with the thick side of wedges facing away from the crank arm. Most people who feel like there is more pressure on the inside of the foot only feel that because they are not sitting squarely on the seat and are dropping the hip on one side.

Quick question for you. Hi there Wow this is so complicated! However, like a recent comment on cyclingnews I developed a little knee pain under the patella. I will try some steady rides like you suggested and new pedals. Your dislike of the Specialized ITS caught my interest. Is the proprioceptive blocking by the material of the ITS changed by simple measures such as wearing socks? If not why not?

The sunglasses point has really aroused my interest. I strongly encourage some form of scientific endeavour to validate this, perhaps a local undergrad of sports science could assist as part of a dissertation? One would think that sunglass lenses would attenuate the CNS to competing stimuli since the lense would reduce CNS excitation? I only wish that I lived in Australia or Sydney so that I could get you to fit me!

I just want to ride my bike without this hassle. If the number of wedges used is too many, then again, a problem will likely arise. Re the Specialized in shoe wedges themselves, they will perform the same mechanical correction if used in the individually correct number as other wedges.

However, they are made from material that has a negative effect on fine motor control abilities. Another way to put this is: No one has clear proprioceptive feedback from the feet when cycling unless the cant of their feet is perfect. This lack of neural information causes the CNS to compensate for that lack. So it is possible to potentially have the correct number of Specialized in shoe wedges from the view point of mechanical correction but still be in asymmetric compensation mode with the increased chances of overuse injuries developing that result.

Re the glasses, and this problem is not epidemic, though I see it regularly. It differs from the Material Challenge of the Specialized in shoe wedges and shims by having an individual component. I had 2 elite athletes in earlier in the year from the national squad of another country. One of them had a negative response to the lens coating on his glasses but not to the lens coating of his team mates very similar different brand glasses.

Nor did team mate 2 have a negative response to the glasses that team mate 1 did. So they swapped glasses. However I have demonstrated this stuff to tens of health professionals of various stripes and contacted behavioural optometrists and neurologists about this. In each case it was news to them though they were very interested. The first behavioural optometrist I contacted gave me the impression that what I was saying was not new, but once a face to face meeting took place, I found that they had misconstrued what I had said and it is apparently news to them.

Happy to demonstrate in person and do so daily with fit clients who use them or other plastics that have a similar effect on proprioceptive clarity. I know this is not the answer you seek but it is the best I am prepared to give, other than face to face. From my personal experience and own published research, the vast majority of cyclists will benefit from varus wedging i. Furthermore, those cyclists presenting with the highest levels of forefoot varus or forefoot supinatus — an acquired soft tissue adaptation as a result of excessive pronation demonstrate the greatest increases in power output — when corrected using varus wedges.

I strongly believe this is a result of tibial varum rearfoot heel varus. Usually, the greater the degree of tibial varum, the more wedging is required. I also agree with your comments on using a longitundinal arch support to assist in controlling pronatory forces. I use the red high density formothotic manufactured in NZ which has a small intrinsic varus heel wedge built in. We advise cyclists to use an insert one size smaller. This moves the arch support further back towards the heel, thus allowing the metatarsal heads to ground effectively.

All too often arch supports extend too far forward…. Whilst frames, wheels, cranks, pedals and shoes and so on, have all advanced and become significantly stiffer, the human foot remains unchanged. Consequently, in a system that has very little flex for energy to dissipate, pressure on the foot increases considerably.

Finally, we recommend cyclists use appropriate orthoses for gait activities when excessive pronation is present. We believe that failure to control pronation during gait can result in postural asymmetry being taken onto the bike. Furthermore, failing to control pronatory forces during gait may lead to further increases in Forefoot Varus forefoot supinatus. I used to use the red Formthotics but moved away from them because I could not get enough arch support out of them for those with really high arches.

There is a way to measure the clarity of the CNS response to the proprioceptive output of the foot under load, and I have refined a testing protocol to the point where it tells me how much correction is needed and the relative degree of where it is needed; forefoot, midfoot, rear foot. That is what led me away from Formthotics. They are still valid for many. From the detail in your mail, I assume you are a physio, podiatrist or similar with an interest in cycling.

I hope to have a better method than cleat wedges to address rearfoot varus available in the very near future. Yes, also not crazy about ITS wedges but use the occasional one in conjunction with rear foot and arch correction for those whom the test protocol tells me need a forefoot wedge rather than cleat wedge.

Quick question about your comment about using corrective orthoses off the bike. How do you define excessive pronation and what kinds of postural asymmetries do you see as a result both on and off the bike?

If I understand correctly, those with rigid flat feet are an exception and most? I know this might be veering off topic a bit but I manage a running store and work with injured runners daily so your comment piqued my interest. Many runners, with what some would define as excessive pronation, run extraordinarily well in neutral or minimalist shoes which are generally defined as those having less elevated heels, wider toeboxs, and less cushioning.

Jay Dicharry at the University of Virginia and Irene Davis at the University of Delaware are two whom have both published recently on this topic are are fairly well known. May I ask your field of work and how this line of thinking agrees or disagrees with your training? I am just hoping to continue learning. Without getting into an endless debate, I will attempt to address some of the points you have raised to the best of my ability.

First, I would like to clarify a few points. As you are aware, pronation is a natural and necessary part of gait which enables the foot to adapt to the differing ground surface profiles and pronation helps to dissipate ground reaction forces. Testing involved 2 x 30 second Wingate Anaerobic tests on a cycle ergometer, one with and one without wedges.

Appropriate wedging demonstrated an average increase in power output 3. In cases like this, forefoot varus forefoot supinatus is frequently present.

Despite the cyclist having earlier undergone optimisation of bikefit set-up and wedging….. Consequently, these are then taken on to the bike, which in turn, disturb normal pedalling symmetry. We have found that by addressing pronatory stresses during gait not necessarily running allied with a personalised musculoskeletal rehab plan the incidence of re-occurrence diminishes in race cyclists. Over the years, research strongly suggests that uncontrolled pronatory forces can contribute to overuse problems along the kinetic chain.

Many studies provide strong support for the clinical advantages of foot orthotics — however, explanations of the mechanisms of how they work remain elusive and uncertain.

I fully agree with your comment that many runners pronate excessively, yet run extraordinarily well — without succumbing to injury.

In this situation we would not contemplate intervening. Similarly, many people smoke excessively without succumbing to lung-cancer. Incidentally, some authors suggest the problem is due to a delay in re-supination of the foot at toe-off. I tend to support your views on moving towards running shoes with less elevated heels, if only to encourage forefoot strike. I am a convert of forefoot running myself — having successfully moved to using Newton running shoes.

Forefoot running has considerably reduced symptoms associated with my degenerative joints. Generally, I believe runners should more towards forefoot strike, facilitated by shoe design low heel , to achieve benefits. Although I have not researched this particular topic, my understanding is that forefoot strike involves less subtalar pronation reduced pronatory forces , additional to reducing ground reaction forces.

Some of the UK Premier Soccer Teams are now advising their players to wear orthoses for limited time periods during each day and to walk in bare-feet. Shoe manufactures and so called experts in running biomechanics have been driving shoe sales by advocating running shoes with thick heel cushioning since the early s. With over 40 years of research into shoe design….. Hi Steve, Have you any experience with the RoadId bracelets and their inhibiting proprioceptive feedback?

Thanks Kevin. Most of them are sold by charities. Interesting because there was a room full of witnesses. I was assessing an elite junior triathlete prior to fitting him. He wore a charity style plastic bracelet of the type we are talking about on his right wrist.

In standing posture he had no difference in leg length but stood with left posterior iliac crest 15mm higher than the right side. With bracelet removed, his pelvis instantly shifted and iliac crests became level. If the bracelet was placed within half a metre of him, the lateral pelvic tilt returned. More commonly, the effects are a little more subtle, but can still be seen.

Now, I know this sounds like bullshit. All said the same thing; that they would have called it bullshit except that they had seen it. The same inhibitory effect happens with Specialized in shoe wedges and cleat shims their cleat wedges are okay though , 1 model of Vasyli generic arch supports and many sunglasses. The effect with sunglasses has individual variance in that a pair of glasses will have an obvious inhibitory effect on one person but not on another.

The most common sunglass that I find problems with are the black framed Oakley Jawbones. No one is going to die from using any of these products. They will just be less coordinated at some level which means an increased chance of developing an overuse injury. I tripped over this after developing a testing protocol to quantify proprioceptive clarity from the feet. Unless they removed their plastic bracelet, glasses, shims or inshoe wedges or whatever object, in their case, was the problem.

I had another gent who was recovering from a bout of ill health who was inhibited by the cycling shoes he was wearing. He is the publisher of the magazine I write for here.

I put him in Lakes as they fitted him and there was no problem with them. His previous shoes have remained at our place since, but I have not found another person who has a problem with them. So I suspect that his weakened, run down state had something to do with it. Next time he is in Sydney I plan to test him with the same shoes again. I do think they are a good safety item in case we get knocked off whilst riding on your own.

Regards Darren. Is this intentional or is it just a practical way of fitting it so that it fits under the heel? I would have thought that a Speedplay wedge might fit more naturally under the heel to give a wedge at 90 degrees to the foot perhaps trimmed a bit. In larger sized shoes, from a proprioceptive point of view, it is a bit hit and miss.

Yes, if you are already using wedges with thick side facing crank arm, then it is the same orientation under the heel. I love your blog and the articles you put up. You said that people load up the outside of the foot or far less commonly the inside of the foot in order to compensate for lack of cant.

I am definitely one of the minority that load up the inside of my left foot, as I can tell by the pressure I feel as well as the wear on the inside of my pedal and cleat. The question I have is this: is loading up the inside of the foot still an indication for a varus cleat wedge? Is this a problem of lack of wedge or too much arch collapse during power phase of pedal stroke? I currently use Aline insoles which are very supportive.

Please let me know, as I have ordered cleat wedges and ITS wedges but have not tried anything yet as I am waiting for some advice. Please let me know.

Thanks so much. Download the following instructions for installing Cleat Wedges on Speedplay Frogs. Follow Us. Products Terms Contact Us. Shopping Cart: 0 Items. Your shopping cart is currently empty.

You may choose products to put in your cart under the Products header in the left-hand navigation pane. Once you have something in your cart, as long as you are logged into BikeFit.