A Morton’s Neuroma is a thickening of tissue around the nerve of the foot, usually appearing between the third and fourth toes. It can actually seem like you’re “stepping on a marble”, causing pain and discomfort.

By appearing between the metatarsal bones, it also can limit your movement in some activities or make them difficult to execute because of its symptoms of pain on the ball of the foot.

You can do some kinds of treatments on your own to try and make Morton’s Neuroma disappear. But if you feel that it is not happening, a medical doctor should be able to help you.

What causes Morton’s Neuroma?

It seems Morton’s Neuroma is very often caused by using too tight shoes, or high heels shoes. Which can compress and irritate the nerves on the ball of the foot, and start the inflammatory process.

Another kind of causes are:

• Having flat foot

• Too high foot arches

• Hammer toes

• Bunions

Activities that may cause it:

• Repetitive activities like running, which cause continuous foot pressure.

• Sports that require tight shoes, like ballet or ice skating.

The Morton’s Neuroma can also be acquired by hurting your foot in any activity.

The treatments are of various types and your medical doctor should appoint you to which will suit you better. 

The different kinds of treatments are based on how your Morton’s Neuroma is behaving. It’s not uncommon to do two or more treatments at the same time depending on your symptoms.

These treatments go from more conservative to more aggressive depending on your pain and condition at the time of your visit.

Conservative and home treatments:

If your case of Morton’s Neuroma is easy to solve, your medical doctor should indicate you to do some of these treatments, like:

• Massaging your foot, especially in the affected area;
• Resting your foot;
• Physical therapy;
• Applying ice on the affected area.

Injections:

If you’re still in pain after the home treatments, your doctor may suggest you try injections of corticosteroids or anti-inflammatory drugs into the area of pain. This can relieve your pain temporarily.

Surgery:

If you are still having problems with Morton’s Neuroma after the treatments described above, maybe you will have to do a surgery to help you with your condition. Such as:

• Neurectomy: removing part of the nerves tissue;
• Decompression surgery: relieving the pressure on the nerve by cutting ligaments and other structures around it;
• Cryogenic surgery: where nerves and the myelin sheath covering them are killed using extremely cold temperatures.

With these treatments you should get better and go back with your activities and daily routine without any more problems.

If you need assistance with Morton’s Neuroma, talk to us and book an appointment with your medical doctor at Pathak Podiatry for treatment and advice.