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Morton's Neuroma and footwear

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Cats 04 Apr 2006
It seems I have Morton's Neuroma in both feet. I don't have flat feet, I don't wear high heels and in fact I don't wear shoes most of the time as I work at home so walk round barefoot, or put on a pair of walking socks if it's cold. However it's making getting a pair of boots a nightmare - and expensive one at that.

Does anyone else here have the same problem? If so, did visiting a podiatrist help in any way?


http://www.aapsm.org/neuroma.html
 kenseamon 07 Apr 2006
I have had a neuroma in my left foot for the past four to five years. It first start manifesting itself on descents from climbs when on hard ground. I have tried the following: orthotics (superfeet and custom), met pads, wider shoes, cortisone shots. I have the following suggestions.

Make sure you are wearing shoes that are wide enough so that you don't have your forefoot being pinched.

Limited success with met pads and orthotics although the orthotics definitely help.

Good success with cortisone shots on two occassions. The shots took effect about 30 days after the shot and alleviated (severely reduced the numbness and pain) symptoms for about six months. This worked on two occasions over the past two years. I had one shot about two months ago and it had no effect at all. This evidently is not unusual for a limited success with shots.

When I have a little more time, I am going to have the surgery on the foot as it is relatively straightforward and very successful.

In the meantime, I find that using NSAIDs, orthotics, and good fitting boots can help. Actually, the stiffer boots seem to make the neuroma feel better as you are doing less flex and putting less weight on the ball of your foot. Although, that presents its own problems. I have never had problems with the neuroma going up or on snow. It is usually a lot worse going down on hard ground or repetitive walking or work outs on stairmasters.

I empathize with your finding boots as I have tried on numerous boots and many seem to be tight (or snug) in the forefoot (I would prefer some snug boots actually that fit like a glove, but I am concerned about them being too tight). If I buy them big enough to give me room in the forefoot they have too much volume and are not stable for climbing particularly on down climbs and steep snow or ice with crampons.

I have also found that wearing slippers around the house made a big difference when walking on hard floors, especially using some with cork moldable bottoms rather than just soft ones where you are still flexing on the ball of your foot with a little more padding.

That's probably more than you wanted but hope this helps and good luck.
 top cat 07 Apr 2006
I recommend surgery. Had it done in both feet, very sucessful. Messed about with orthos and injections the first time, useless, went straight to surgery the second.
 kenseamon 07 Apr 2006
Curious: What was the recovery like from the surgery? Any interesting side effects or long term effects?
Mr Jones 07 Apr 2006
In reply to Cats:

is it definitely mortons neuroma? this has very similar symptoms to inflammation of the tissue around the toe bones (metatarsals?) My doctor wasn't sure which I had, said to leave it for a week on ibuprofen and the pain has stopped

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