• Get New Shoes . Stop using shoes with have raised heels. Also shoes must have ample room in the toes and not be confining at all. we recommend flats to reduce pain and pressure or wide widths would be perfect.
• Anti-Inflammatories Over the counter meds like advil or motron or Herbal Anti inflamtion pills can help relieve pain and pressure. Make sure you are healthy enough to take these medications as they carry their own risks also.
• Ice. Ice can reduce swelling and dull pain. Freeze a water bottle and roll that over your foot for 20 minuites 3 times a day. This Massaging action can help stimulate tissue aswell
• Try an Arch Support or Shoe Insert – Custom Arch suports may relieve the pressure on the nerve by supporting the other parts of your foot and reducing pressure. Some Physicians also recommend a metatarsal pad or bar. Over the counter Shoe inserts can also be effective for pain.
• Rest – If you can reduce your physical actives greatly and rest your feet and legs. Stop Dancing, Running, Jogging, or anythign that is high impact on your feet

Need for Surgery:

Morton’s Neuroma is a common disease of the foot. It is observed in females more often than males most likely because of the heels women wear. Though there are conservative lines of treatment available, Morton’s Neuroma can in some cases only be solved by surgery.  Conservative treatment may fail to give relief to some patients with increased difficulties in movement. In such cases where surgery is warranted there are two types of surgery the patient could be asked to undergo.

Types of Surgery:

The first type of surgery is known as the ‘Dorsal Approach’. Under these conditions, an incision is made on the top of the foot and the procedure is carried on there from. The good part of this surgery is that the patient does not need to use any support to walk afterward. They can easily walk around the same day for the most part. Also this procedure will leave the healthier tissue for secondary surgery, in case it may be required. However, it has been seen that this kind of surgery may lead to instability in the forefoot that may require attention in for the future.

The second type of surgery is known as the ‘Plantar Approach’. The doctor makes an incision on the sole of the foot to repair the damage. The surgery cripples the patient for some weeks and they may need to use crutches to move around. Also the patient can feel uncomfortable from the scars that are formed on the sole of the foot. However, some doctors prefer this method of surgery. The reason for this is that it allows them better access to the neuroma and helps them to make resects without cutting any structures in the process.

Effects of Surgery:

The surgery is not without complications. The area of the foot that undergoes surgery contains a large number of nerves, small blood vessels and muscles as well. This is why there is a huge chance for complications to occur from surgery. Secondly, there is a chance for recurrence that might require further treatment or surgery. Finally, the area that remains after the neuroma is removed gets filled in with blood immediately after. This can cause a painful hematoma condition. There is a big risk of infection in such situations.

Conclusion:

A foot and ankle doctor will be the best judge for the line of treatment to be followed. The length of recovery time required by a patient may vary greatly depending upon the type of surgery undertaken and the procedures performed.

There are a few steps a podiatrist normally follows to make sure that the pain you feel in your foot is from  the Morton’s Neuroma condition. This usually includes Rubbing the area to bring forth any kind of pain or sensation. The doctor may even squeeze the toes from side to side or try to feel the neuroma by pressing a thumb between the third and fourth toe spaces called the third interspace.

A sure sign that someone  has a Morton’s Neuroma is the Mulder’s sign. For this sign the doctor will palpate the affected interspace with one hand and with their second hand they will squeeze the entire foot. Doing so, the doctor can easily hear a audible click sound – known as the Mulder’s Sign. This will help to ensure that your pain is clearly from the Morton’s Neuroma condition.

side foot x ray

To make sure that your pain is not from any kind of arthritis or rheumatism, the doctor might further advise you to take an x-ray. This will also help to check out whether you have any kind of fractures as well as tell the doctor what the density of your joints and bones is. to get Further confirmation that there is no tumor in the foot causing such condition of compression, an MRI scan may be prescribed. This test will also help in determining the size of the neuroma and the line of treatment to be followed to treat it.

An MRI scan is usually prescribed in the event you need a surgery to do away with Morton’s Neuroma. Such a test will help to determine how much of the nerve needs to be done away with. Also it will be a great guideline in determining the exact size and position of the neuroma and what kind of surgical technique needs to be used.

You need to strictly adhere by what your doctor says to make sure you can take good care of your foot while there is still time time. The more you avoid the situations that aggravate the neuroma, the better things get. Also a proper foot insert or shoe that provides you plenty of toe space and low heels is essential to avoid recurrence of the Morton’s Neuroma condition in the future.

high heels can cuase morton's neuroma

nerves can become entangled and bunched creating something resembling a benign tumor. The bunching of nerves is referred to as a neuroma. This syndrome has been noted to occur more often in ladies than in men. What you actually feel with a Morton’s Neuroma is a sharp, burning pain in the ball of your foot or a stinging burning feeling in your toes. Your toes might even feel numb at times.

Mortons Neuroma also goes by the names of Morton’s metatarsalgia, planter nueroma, intermetatarsal neuroma and also as Morton’s Nueralgia.

Such nerve damage in the foot is usually accompanied by tingling, burning, or numbness. The spot where the discomfort is typically prevalent is the meeting point of two nerves between your third and fourth toe area. There are no outward signs visible for this as this is not really a tumor but rather a collection of inflamed and bunched nerves. The feeling of a stone in your shoe or a sock bunched up in your shoe is quite common. Applying pressure to the interspaces between the third and the fourth toes can result in a sharp and immobilizing pain. Some studies have show that Morton’s Neuroma may be just as painful as childbirth.

In the case of Morton’s Neuroma, a session of night pain is usually rare. Pain attacks come generally when you move around more and especially when you are in tight binding footwear. The symptoms generally do not come on all of a sudden. They progress quite gradually. It may first occur only when you are wearing uncomfortable shoes or undertaking on any overly aggressive activity. The best thing to do is meet with your foot and ankle doctor and find out if you may have Morton’s Neuroma. It will help you to check things out in the early development stage as this reduces the need for more invasive kind of treatments like surgery.

Under the conservative treatment, if the patient is in extreme pain, they are administered a dose of local anesthesia to help relieve the pain. Then if there is some amount of inflammation as well, the patient can be given corticosteroid to reduce it. The other option of treatment is using alcohol sclerosing injections. This will help to harden the nerve and relieves pain instantly the majority of the time. The treatment is continued by giving injections every 7-10 days. In most cases, 4-7 injections may be needed at the maximum.  Some doctors use a combination therapy combining the alcohol with corticosteroid to treat the nerves in two different ways.

In extreme cases where the above treatments show no results, the patient may be advised to undergo surgery. Here again there are two options. There is the dorsal approach, where they enter trough the top of the foot. There is also the plantar approach, where the incision is made at the bottom of the foot. It is better to consult your doctor about the pros and cons of each one of these treatments and then select the one that suits you best.