Anyone ever experience Morton's Neuroma? Any advice on how to heal?

Make sure all your running shoes provide sufficient width in the forefoot. I failed to acknowledge that for years and ending up having the damaged nerve surgically cut to mercifully end chronic pain -- which left numbness between my 3rd and 4th toes.

You might also wish to try neuroma pads.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ikqUukd7z4

Good luck.

Head to Walmart and buy some super cheap toe spacers ($4-10)Wear them throughout the day at work (Take them out for running) Also, make sure your running shoes have enough room for your toes to splay out.

Cortisone shot. I went to a podiatrist and got a shot and the Morton's Neuroma went away immediately. I should have gone for the shot earlier.

I also cut a hole in the insole of my shoe around the affected area. That helped but it was the shot that made it go away. The podiatrist said that it might be the needle and not he steroid that causes it to go away.

I waited too long to get the shot and got injured because it changed the way I ran. At the time of the Morton's Neuroma, I was a 14:30 5k and 2:30 marathon runner. The resulting hamstring injury derailed my training for 4 years and now I am an 18:00 guy. Just go get the shot.

+1 on the following:

toe spacers - Just great for your feet overall

cortisone shot - This is what fixed mine

cut a hole in insoles - Done this to continue running until I got the shots.

The cortisone shot is worth a try, but have low expectations. BTW, the shot itself hurst like hell so be prepared. Try orthotics and spacers, sure.

IF you end up deciding on surgery (the most permanent of solutions) after trying everything else (like I did), be sure they cut from the TOP of your foot, not the bottom. A bottom incisions is much more difficult to heal. While the top incision is a little more tricky for the surgeon, it's worth it to YOU. So double check on this.

Also, the surgery isn't bad and the recovery is minimal. I had mine done in early June and ran close to a PR (in a 5-mi race) in September.

Ok, so from everything I can gather here I'm going to get spacers and some pads. I don't have regular pain (really little to no pain at all), so I think I will wait on the shot until I've exhausted the orthotics options.

Question about shoes - I wear training shoes with lots of support because I also pronate. Is there a shoe you would recommend? Currently I train in Brooks Adrenalines. Are they not wide enough?

Mortonblows wrote:

Ok, so from everything I can gather here I'm going to get spacers and some pads. I don't have regular pain (really little to no pain at all), so I think I will wait on the shot until I've exhausted the orthotics options.

Question about shoes - I wear training shoes with lots of support because I also pronate. Is there a shoe you would recommend? Currently I train in Brooks Adrenalines. Are they not wide enough?

That will totally depend on how wide your foot is. Do you go to a running store to get fitted for your shoes or buy online?

joho wrote:

Mortonblows wrote:

Ok, so from everything I can gather here I'm going to get spacers and some pads. I don't have regular pain (really little to no pain at all), so I think I will wait on the shot until I've exhausted the orthotics options.

Question about shoes - I wear training shoes with lots of support because I also pronate. Is there a shoe you would recommend? Currently I train in Brooks Adrenalines. Are they not wide enough?

That will totally depend on how wide your foot is. Do you go to a running store to get fitted for your shoes or buy online?

I go to a running store and get fitted. I'll be sure to make sure they take into account the width this time around.

I've had it for almost a year. In my experience, it'll very slowly get worse but it will also not bother you sometimes.

After about 6 months of it, I went to the DR. She had me to go to PT. I got new running and casual shoes that are both wider than normal and my casual shoes have more cushioning.

At PT they would massage my foot, do ultrasound on it, and we would do exercises. They also put me on a rigorous stretching and massaging routine for my calf and hamstring, which I have been doing after every run/xtrain (normally twice a day). Also a lot of rolling out.

It was kind of helping, but I felt like it was not going away. I got a cortisone shot in the foot and holy shit does that hurt. I also had a bad reaction to it where I couldn't walk for a couple of days. After the swelling went down, I was back to where I started. Morton's neuroma was still there.

Kept going to PT and stretching and after another few more weeks, the pain started to disappear. It's been a few months now since then and I keep up my stretching and I only sometimes feel it for the first 1 or 2 steps right when I put shoes on in the morning.

tl;dr: get bigger shoes. go to PT. stretch A LOT.

A pad under the ball of your foot. It pushes up and spreads your metatarsals.

You can buy the specialized pads or just cut out some mole skin and layer it on the insert in your shoe.

I've had two neuroma surgeries and would never get another, even though another neuroma developed in my other foot. Your foot is so boney that even a small amount of scar tissue from a small incision feels weird, like a BB in your foot. Moreover, I lost the feeling in my middle toe when the nerve was cut.A better solution is to always wear the most comfortable and wide street shoes that you can, especially with designs which lift up your toes slightly. Then, rotate those shoes so that the pressure pattern on the bottom of your foot is always varied. Keen (which even makes a work boot), Cros and Teva sandals are particularly good.Then, for your running shoes, make sure they are plenty wide to keep the rubbing rubbing of the bones on the nerve to a minimum. Don't ever wear running shoes which are even slightly too narrow, not even for one run.David MontiRace Results Weekly

Mortonblows wrote:

Apparently I have developed Morton's Neuroma in BOTH of my feet. It's basically a pinched nerve in my metatarsal. Some options for recovery include rest, orthotics, steroid injections, and surgery.

So here are my questions to the community:

1. Has anyone ever just rested and had it get better? If so, how long? That's my first step here.

2. If you have used orthotics, what do you recommend?

I'm obviously trying to avoid the last two solutions (steroid injections and surgery). Luckily it doesn't bother me much when running. I've only experienced a little left toe numbness during training and then at the end of a race this past weekend it felt like a nail going through my foot. Other than that, no problems while running. It only bothers me on my left foot after training.

I tried everything already mentioned, which is a good place to start.

Then after several cortisone shots did not work, they tried several alcohol shots (seriously) to try to kill the nerve. I did not want surgery.

THEN I went to Dr. Perry Julien in Atlanta who gave my foot a B vitamin shot. Call the doctor for details. One shot helped and after two shots completely healed. Dr. Julien is well known to Atlanta runners so I would have your doctor call his office if you are not local.

PS. Try Epsom Salt foot soaks for relief too.

d9monti wrote:

Then, for your running shoes, make sure they are plenty wide to keep the rubbing rubbing of the bones on the nerve to a minimum. Don't ever wear running shoes which are even slightly too narrow, not even for one run.

This. All the shots in the world might make it go away temporarily, but the cause is that your shoes are way too narrow. You absolutely must address this if you want to prevent the problem from returning.

Here is what's happening. The bones of the midfoot are being squeezed together so that one bone has to go slightly above or below the others. When your foot hits the ground, that bone gets forced down level with the others. Over time, this rubbing together causes nerve damage and/or calcium buildup. The prevention once you're healthy again is...

1. Get a shoe with a wider toebox. If the shoe is even slightly tight when you try it on, reject it and try another shoe. If the shoe is really close to fitting, you might consider trying a half size larger shoe.

2. Wear super thin socks. This effectively makes your foot a little narrower.

3. If the insert is thick in the forefoot, replace it with a thinner insert. This will help a little, but not as much as the previous two steps.

Thank you all for the help. This is really early stage (like I don't really feel pain), so I think I have a ton of good starting advice. I've already put in an order for wider shoes. I'm taking a week off. I'm going to be very careful moving forward and if worse comes to worst, I'll have to get the shot. This was probably the most informational thread I've ever started, btw, so much appreciated to all the responses.

When I had a mild case (for years but mostly a nuisance), swearing off shoes that were even slightly cramped in the toe box eliminated the problem.

Your toes must be able to naturally spread as you step.

Just reject any shoes that in any way squash your toes. I know others have said this but it's worth repeating.

I have had a this for over 25 years. I'm sure I caused it by wearing spikes that were a half-size too small. It has never gone completely away but one cortisone shot in 1990 pretty much cut the pain over in half and its has never been more than a minor nuisance since.

I recommend wearing the training shoes with the wide toe box and lean towards slightly oversize than undersize.

I second the advice to make sure you have plenty of room in the forefoot of your shoes. Also, stretching your toes upwards seems to help. I discovered this when I realized that my neuroma always felt better after doing pushups barefoot.

My podiatrist had me first try wearing wider shoes. I went to EE and EEEE shoes and have not had a problem since. I currently run in Sketchers which have a wider and looser forefoot and they work fine.

I've had Morton's Neuroma wrote:

My podiatrist had me first try wearing wider shoes. I went to EE and EEEE shoes and have not had a problem since. I currently run in Sketchers which have a wider and looser forefoot and they work fine.

I pronate and get shin splints when I run and I've found that Brooks Adrenaline are the best when it comes to support for pronation. Do you know if Skechers has any good shoes with pronation support? I've already put in the order for wide Brooks Adrenaline, so if they don't work I'll probably try Skechers.