Cleat Positioning – it makes a difference

One of the first things a well-versed coach or physio will consider if an athlete complains about knee pain after cycling, is the position of the cleat on the shoe. Subtle changes to cleat position can cause, or alleviate, knee and hip pain in particular, and improve or detract from power generation on the road. So, how do you optimally position your cleats?

Athletes often ask me about optimal cleat position after they have purchased a new pedal system and/or pair of shoes and need to re-position their cleats. The short answer is there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ approach to this quandary. In fact, specialists like former AIS cycling biomechanist Brian McLean PhD will spend the best part of an hour measuring shoe dimensions and foot position on the pedal before committing to a placement. It’s the reason guys like Cadel Evans and Stuart O’Grady seek him out.

Some athletes I work with have adopted the “if it isn’t broken, I won’t fix it” attitude. This is fine, but it might also mean they’re robbing themselves of some torque and power along the road.

So, while the answer to the question can be fairly involved, I’ll cover the basics in order to give you some pointers for finding your optimal position. If you’ve been suffering pain and it persists (even after making some of these adjustments), be sure to see a sports physio. It’s just as important to see a physio with experience working with endurance sport athletes like cyclists, triathletes and runners, as the cause of the pain could be any number of things.