This is not yet an unconditional “up”, but nonetheless… I bought LeWedge, and although I could not put in the shims I feel I need (1 on the left, 3 on the right), I am positive that this has helped me tuck my knees in to the top tube, and produce measurably (Computrainer) more power.
My right knee has tracked laterally. I have already had some correction.
The reason I couldn’t the shims I wanted was because the bolts that came with my bike shoes are too short and the ones that came with the Shims are too long. I E-mailed them and got a response within about two hours that they had mailed me some in-betweeners.
I will also say that the use of them–on the ball side or the outside of my foot, was counter-intuitive, at least counter to my tuitive. I wanted to put them on the outside to force the knee to the top tube, but this would probably done damage to my knee/ankle. Putting them on the ball side, as the website says is probably correct for 87% (83%?) of the population, put my foot/ankle/knee in proper alignment, and then it was just a matter of tilting my knees in a bit. That works the inner thigh muscles much harder and there seems to be some power in there.
When will I ever listen. Also, Dan if you read this, thank you for shaming me into turning my P2K seatpost around, pulling my seatnose forward of my BB, and getting rid of the, “shudder”, risers under my Syntace bars. Way stronger, but if a squirrel runs out in front of me, we are both goners.
I’ve been hesitant to go for these due to some comments here that they may do more harm than good. I had a pretty reputable professional fit last year, and shims were never mentioned and I never thought to ask.
I do feel that there’s way to much lateral (away from the top tube) movement of my knees at the top of my pedal stroke. And as my ride times have increased, so has some knee discomfort.
Were you having any knee pain, or was this just an adjustment for additional power?
I’ve been using shims on my right foot for 3 weeks now. This plus some SuperFeet inserts have made my feet a non issue. I just did a ride today that a month ago would have had me crying from foot pain but I did not give my foot a thought at all. Interestingly, my ITB was usually a little sore after a hard right but that is gone now.
The intuition on the wedges is that you are trying to let your foot rest on the pedal at it’s natural angle. Thus if the inside of your foot is high, you want the cleat on that side so the sole of your shoe is tilted up into the angle of your foot. This means your shoe is angled up on the inside edge but your angled foot can now be flat on the sole of the shoe. You’re really not using wedged to make your foot do something but rather to let it do what it has wanted to do all along.
I feel I have more power now and I definitely am much more comfortable.
A number of people on this forum have expressed that these should only be fit to you by a professional, so I am hesitant to offer any advice.
Maybe look at the LemondFitness website and look at the diagrams of mis-alignment. I have a high arch, and it has fallen with the years, so building that up straightens out my foot/ankle/leg.
I have some knee issues that have caused me to stop running, so anything I said about knee pain would not be relevant. But when I grind a bigger gear, or force my knees to the top tube for a TT, I was beginning to have pain afterwards.
The ITB thing is anpther good point. I was having pain around the outside of my “good” knee (above and below). I don’t feel that now, but I will wait until I can get the other wedges in to know for certain. As a time line, I have not run since IMAZ, but did continue to cycle, and did have the ITB pain (it may not have been ITB, but it was pain). No “ITB” pain since the wedges. But, again, time and the other wedges will tell.
This is interesting. The picks on the Lemond Sight shows the incorrectly aligned feet with pressure on the outside. Interestingly enough I have one foot that regular hurts on the outside of the foot. Dis you have foot pain as well or just knee pain?
Pain was not the motivating issue–it was my right knee moving to and fro. However, if I forced it to the top tube and made it stay there, then I did have some “pain”.