Forefoot Pain – aka Morton’s Neuroma

What is it?

Morton’s Neuroma is a painful condition that affects the ball of your foot, most commonly the area between your third and fourth toes. The condition involves a thickening of the tissue around one of the nerves leading to your toes.

What are the symptoms?

Sharp or burning pain in the ball of your foot
Toes may sting, burn or feel numb
Feeling of standing on a pebble in your shoe or on a fold in your sock
Increased pain in narrow or tight fitting footwear

Why did I get it?

Tight fitting footwear or high heels causing compressive forces on the nerves
Rapid increase in running loads
Increased time spent standing on your feet
Traumatic injury

How is it diagnosed?

A thorough examination by one of our highly trained Podiatrists who will diagnose and grade the condition. You may also be referred for an diagnostic ultrasound or MRI.

How can I treat it?

The quickest path to being pain free is to pay a visit to your Podiatrist for them to help you develop a treatment plan.

Below are some treatment strategies which may be implemented by your Podiatrist:

Footwear prescription and modification
- During our functional assessment we gather specific information to help guide a footwear prescription that is suitable for your foot type and condition. We do this via video walking and running assessments, pressure analysis and 3D foot scans. We can also modify your footwear to allow more room in the shoe and make life more comfortable for you.
Custom Orthotics
- Custom Orthotics can be made to correct any underlying structural or mechanical issues in your feet that may be leading to increased compression and irritation of the nerve bundle. We have great success in treating hard to fix Morton’s neuromas with custom orthotics that are made to work with your lifestyle and the shoes required for your daily needs.
Exercise Programs
- Specific foot strengthening programs are an excellent tool in helping your recover from a painful Morton’s Neuroma. We use a graduated program to increase the strength of the intrinsic muscle deep within the foot to help stabilise the foot and enable efficient function when walking and running.
Foot and Ankle Mobilisation
- Foot mobilisation can be essential for improving function and relieving forefoot pain. It works by improving the mobility and alignment of joints in the feet, which in turn allows muscles to work more efficiently around those joints. This establishes better movement pathways and can help to relieve chronic pain.
- The podiatrists at Studio Podiatry are trained to gently mobilise joints to allow them to function more appropriately, and re-establish good muscle function.
Steroid Injection
- On the rare occasion that symptoms are not manageable using conservative treatment a corticosteriod injection may be considered. The injection of corticosteroid can help most people become pain free in a short amount of time, however if the underlying cause of the condition is not managed the symptoms can return.