Female needed advic e on Neuroma....again!!!

whoops...title should read "needing". sorry!

anybody? =(

So I ran for an hour. It hurt at 40 minutes but I still decided to run for another twenty so long as my stride hasnt been altered? I hope this is ok.

make sure your shoes are big enough...width and length. a small shoe will only put more pressure on the nerve (by squeezing the metarsal bones together and pinching the nerve) and cause more irritation.

That's good advice. Make sure your toes box is wide enough not only on your running shoe but for your day shoes.

A custom orthotic helped me also. My podiatrist told me that once you have one it will always be susceptible to re-injury.

Avoid crossttraining sports such as Skiing and skating. (I developed mine during crosscountry ski races. It ruined my running for a couple months.

One person I know got a cortizone shot for hers and swears it was the worse thing she did for it.

when i had my neuroma i wasn't even able to walk on it normally. i definitely couldn't run.

after going to treatment for about a month, which didn't help, the school gave me a cortisone shot. 3 days later i was building the mileage back up.

nick pappagiorgio wrote:

make sure your shoes are big enough...width and length. a small shoe will only put more pressure on the nerve (by squeezing the metarsal bones together and pinching the nerve) and cause more irritation.

Yes, go for the wider width ASICS or New Balance shoes. Even w/ those, I've sometime had to take a razor blade to the vamp (the bottom section of the lacing "U") and slice both sides to make the toebox spread even more.

I responded to your first post and suggested (from what I could ascertain) you had a neuroma. That is disappointing. You can technically train with a neuroma but it's very painful. If you have surgery of course you will have to lay off of it. Often a pencil-araser sized nerve ending is what's at work here, causing all of your discomfort and it usually needs to be removed.

If you are not able to get back into the swing of your training by mid-April or so, you might find it necessary to abandon your plans for a summer marathon. :( Cycling is a viable way to at least maintain fitness, alhthough the muscle cross-over is not similar to running (hamstrings vs. quadriceps). The days are lengthening and warming up, so that's in your favor.

*eraser

talk to your ortho about a marcane/alcohol injection, or more accurately, a series of injections to kill off the neuroma without surgery. Worked for a friend of mine.

I get neuromas all the time and am able to train thru them, even racing/track workouts. I cut a hole in my shoes in front of my inflicted toe to allow the toe to spread relax, wear roomy shoes with loose laces, ice ice ice, exercises like grabbing a towel with toes, lots of ibuprofin.

Good Luck!

Thanks all. Really...my boyfriend told me about the hospitality of this site and it hasnt failed. Thanks to the poster who responded to both my messages and to all the rest for your helpful advice. I will continue training and will alter my training if the pain worsens. THANKS!!! THANKS!!!! THANKS!!!!

good luck on your training everyone!!!!

=)

I went to a "sports doctor" who called my problem a neuroma. He gave me a cortizone shot, sold me orthotics,talked about the possibility of surgury, and the problem persisted.

Then I went to another doc - he told me to do "zillions of calf stretches" and get some massage therapy. I did and, after a couple of months, I was good as new.

I had resigned myself to surgury, but I'm glad I got a second opinion.

Maybe you should talk to a different doctor to be sure.

With what has already been said, get a pair of Lynco L405 insoles with metatarsal support. They really helped me. I still have some pain, but not nearly as much as before.

http://www.feetrelief.com/feetrelief/Lynco_L405.htm