Morton’s Neuroma Treatment
There are many ways to treat this painful foot problem. In the initial stages, Morton’s Neuroma is treated mildly by simply padding and taping to disperse weight away from the neuroma. In cases where the patient is seen to have a ‘flat feet’, an arch support is added on. This form of treatment is known as the conservative treatment. The doctor may further advise the patient to rest the foot or change the type of shoes that are being worn. Any shoe with a raised heel should be avoided as it puts additional pressure on the front toes. A regular ice massage may also be prescribed to help reduce the pain. Some doctors even prescribe calf-stretching exercises to help patients to recover faster.
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 the corticosteroid to reduce it. The other option of treatment is using the 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.
Could you please tell what would be the side effect of the surgery removing morton’s neuroma? would the surgery end the pain in the foot?
Thank you
There is generally a good prognosis for the removal of the foot neuroma but it is wise to seek the opinion of a medical professional and exhaust all conservative treatment options before considering surgery on the morton’s neuroma. Some side effects could be injuring other parts of the foot as or even numbness because the doctors are removing nerves.
I have Neuroma (neuroma’s)in my right foot, Dr. seems to think I have more than one neuroma in my foot, the largest being in between my big foot and 2nd toe and smaller ones in all others. I have taken a cortisone injection in the larger one and also took a methylprednisolone dose pack which helped more than the injection. I am now on the drug Gabapentin which is for nerve pain. My foot still hurts very much and I don’t think the medicine I am on now is really helping me..maybe helps me sleep a little better. In your opinion do you thin my next step would be surgery?
Thanks in advance!
It is very possibly that you may have several neuromas in the foot. make sure that you find someone who is tracking the progress of the injections with a MRI .. the Alcohol injections into the nerve are meant to harden it completly to the point there is induces sclerosis on the nerve. Cortisone alone will only mask the pain ideally you want to kill the nerve. My advise is make them do a MRI to see just how many nerve bunches you are dealing with and then to ask about Alcohol treatments. Surgery should only be considered as a LAST resort
could you please tell me how quick would anesthesia or corticosteroid take effect,as Iam a marathon runner and I have been diagnosed with mortons neuroma,but unfortunatly due to NHS waiting lists I am looking at a 6 months wait,and in 3 weeks time Iam running the London marathon and need a temporarily solution until I can have surgery,I would be very grateful of some advice.MANY THANKS
You will really need to consult your doctor about this. Just numbing the pain of the neurmoma and running on it in a marathon could aggravate your condition to the point where you might not be able to walk at all. I would in your case also look into acupuncture on the foot to see if that might dull the pain some if you must run on it. But do so with extreme caution.
I have RA, my right foot has this problem. Ive had many injections and they don’t last anymore. I take lots of meds for my joints. I would take the surgery in a minute, I cant walk anymore without extreme pain. Im 46. Please advise me.
What I would like to see is The **successful** treatment of M’s Neuromas.
This condition didn’t just occur in me from wearing bad shoes,
A podiatrist removed my Sesamoid bone in my right foot to correct a minor foot pain issue, and left me after 3) subsequent surgeries as a permanently disabled cripple that experiences 7) of 7) days a week with levels 7-9 chronic pain………..and that was 5) long crutch travelling years ago.
A loss of a reasonably successful sales career at age 55.
I don’t that it was an” error in judgment”.
All I is what subsequent surgeons have .
This has become a true life changing disaster, and I’m facing another surgery or an amputation.
The cramps started a week ago in my hammer toed digit next to my big toe, and that rushed me to an emergency room for morphine therapy.
Good G!!…the pain mgmt doctor has me filling a fentanyl lollipop prescription, and THAT’s WHAT THEY GIVE TERMINAL CANCER victims.
Why they call my condition Mortons Neuroma since it’s between my big and next toe on the bottom baffles me.
That’s the official diagnosis, and all I know to be the truth.
As an end to this rant (yes I get angry when I’m getting pounded by pain) the cortisone shots I’m convinced God only gives us “X” number of shots that work in our lifetime.
After that, they’re completely ineffective.
So…….hold on to those times you get them for “special” life events.
You only get a short few that dull the misery.
One final comment to the struggling:
Avoid Podiatrists.
They are only trained to operate on the foot, and everyone as they age gets foot pain.
So comparatively (vs) an Orthopedic surgeon, which would you think is a better choice?
I know what I’ll choose if I am destined for the knife again.
Thanks………I need to vent from time to time.
Just because it’s: “Only Your Foot”!………does not indicate the minimalization of the seriousness of this malady.
RA is a different condition altogether but I can see how that would aggravate the condition of Mortons Neuroma also. If you can provided a few more details about your type of foot pain perhaps we can point you to the right resources
Very True anyone who says is “only your foot” does not know what they are talking about and you need to see another doctor. An orthopedic surgeon is a good doctor to see as they do have extensive training in bones. I wish you luck with your foot issues.
Any type of bone removal should be done only as a last resort and all other conservative treatments should be persued first. Thank you for sharing and I hope others will learn to not rush into surgery