My struggle with Morton’s neuroma

A snowHead

When I went on a ski trip with my family about eight years ago, I ended up in the ski shop because my foot hurt too much to ski. I thought that my boot was too tight and that was causing the burning pain and tingling in my foot. Luckily, my wife is a Pain Medicine physician and she diagnosed a Morton’s neuroma. For every subsequent ski trip, she gave me a steroid injection into my Morton’s neuroma several days before the trip, which helped.

I jog regularly and at times I felt a sharp pain in my forefoot. I know that this was my Morton’s but I just tried to run through it. Sometimes that would work, sometimes it wouldn’t and I would need a cortisone injection.

Eventually, I decided that I wanted a more long lasting and permanent solution. So, I tried more invasive procedures. Initially, I had the neuroma frozen (cryoablation therapy), which improved my pain substantially but the Morton’s neuroma still remained. Finally, I just wanted to be rid of it, so I had a sclerosing agent injected into the neuroma under ultrasound guidance. After a few weeks, this procedure was repeated and since that time I have had no further foot pain. I now get to ski with my family without any pain.

I am a physician (and avid athlete) and spent many years researching treatment options for my Morton's Neuroma before finally being cured. As a result of the many years of frustration that I suffered with Morton's and the general difficulty in receiving adequate treatment, I urged and prompted my wife to open the Center for Morton's Neuroma.

I hope that people like me who suffered from Morton’s neuroma can find the correct treatment for them.

Feel free to email me directly with any questions.

-Mark

A snowHead

mark, have you anymor einfo please on the sclerosing agent ?

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

Mark what is a pain medicine physician?

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My O/H recently attended a "Pain Clinic". I guess a Pain Medicine Physician would work there.......?

Whilst it is I guess it's forum related there's a whiff of shaped porky goodness in this post.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

You'll need to Register first of course.

Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...

Clearly a wuss. An Invasive procedure for Mortons' is having your foot pulled apart and the offending nerve ripped out. Been there got the T shirt. Twisted Evil

After all it is free

I've had cryosurgery & not only does it work but it's a far better solution than traditional surgery. AFAIK there's only a few practitioners in the UK & The Barn Clinic where I went is one of them. Robin is also a podiatrist & a skier so understands what's required for sliding Toofy Grin

My Mortons are behaving themselves at present but if they act up again I am going for cryo as per spyderjon's post above. I remember reading about I think it was Zero G's surgical procedure and it sounded dreadful Sad

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Hi,

I'll try to address a few points and answer your questions:

1. The most commonly used sclerosing agent is alcohol. It is commonly used for certain types of sclerosing injections.

2. An invasive procedure for Morton's neuroma is NOT "having your foot pulled apart and the offending nerve ripped out." No that's surgery and that's EXACTLY WHAT WE TRY TO AVOID at all costs. I am referring to ultrasound guided sclerosing alcohol injections, ultrasound guided radio frequency ablation and ultrasound guided cyroablation. These are done as an outpatient and you are back walking on your foot within a couple of hours. In general they have a very high rate of success.

If you would like more information about Morton's neuroma see: www.mortonsneuroma.com. [Yes, my wife is the Medical director and yes I have had numerous procedures done on my foot EXCEPT surgery. (I've had sclerosing alcohol injections, radio frequency ablation and cyroablation.)]

Thankfully my Morton's neuroma is cured.

I hope I've been helpful and I wish you good luck in your endeavors to treat this horrible debilitating condition. PM me if you have any specific questions.

-Mark

snowHeads are a friendly bunch.

I was told that the pain in my toes, which was as you describe, was Morton's neuroma, by a foot and alignment specialist. He made up some orthotics with lumps on them (and support to help my flat feet), and they seem to have sorted my feet out. The lumps were pretty uncomfortable till I got used to them, but now I don't notice them. Before I had the footbeds I can recall one time having to take one foot out of my boot at the top of the nursery slope on the dry slope whilst teaching someone, because my foot was so painful. I guess I can't have had it very badly if the footbeds were enough to sort it, and as i virtually live in trainers, finding footwear that thy will fit into isn't a problem!

snow reports

I have been putting 2 + 2 together and realised I have probably got a Morton's neuroma in my right foot. Until very recently it caused no problems at all, skiing - I could ski all day in my (fitted by CEM) ski boots provided I didn't need to walk more than fifteen metres. wink

My problem was with other footwear, specifically walking boots. I got new walking boots fitted by a place recommended by CEM and bought the widest boots made by Altberg who, uniquely, do walking boots with different width fittings. But they haven't solved the problem. They;re fine at first, then after 1 - 2 hours I get a pain which gets quite rapidly worse. It goes away if I take the boot off and massage the foot for a bit. But then comes back after less time. I have also had similar problems with other footwear - though never with my Jesus Sandals walking shoes. I not infrequently have to take my right shoe off when driving after walking for any length of time (not up mountains necessarily, shopping will do it) and drive barefoot.

Then just before the Birthday Bash last year my ski boots suddenly caused huge problems. I had to take one off and hop around in the snow, and found it very difficult to make the pain go away. Then I could scarcely put them on without severe pain - even the next day. I had to buy a new pair of "off the shelf" wide fitting boots - Head Cube 3 - which seemed OK and, again, I could ski all day in them with no pain at all.

I haven't thought about it much this summer because of flopping around in Skechers and flip flops and Crocs, but I just went for a walk in my Altberg boots because I'm going walking in France shortly, and sure enough, the pain started after an hour (which fortunately was the length of the walk).

I poked around under my foot and found that under my 3 and 4 toe was numb - couldn't feel a needle. No pain, just numb. Also when I walk barefoot I can sometimes feel an odd sensation under there, like a small piece of fabric or similar. Occasionally i feel under my toes, thinking I've got something stuck there, but there's never anything.

So, I've read the threads on SHs about MN and very scary reading some of them make. I'm not at all bothered about needles - can give other people and myself injections without a qualm - but the cortisone doesn't sound particularly effective and it sounds as though it can also be painful. Surgery sounds dodgy, too. Which leaves orthotics with lumps on - perfectly happy to give them ago - or cryosurgery.

Spyderjon was very positive about cryosurgery and there's a place in London (the clinic spammed in this thread is in Massachusetts).

I'd be interested to hear of any recent experience of Morton's - success and failure stories.

Thanks.

pam w, firstly there's a better thread here http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?t=96604&highlight=mortons

I think mine are under control (touch wood) not had any bother skiing for the past season now.

It's an easy diagnosis, get referred for an US scan, then you'll know for sure.

With me I think the cortisone helped one of them and I was less sure about the other. Orthotics with a metatarsal 'bar' underneath helped me by redistributing the weight more 'backwards'. Also ski boots with a more upright stance helped too. For me the main thing that seemed to help was getting the weight off my forefoot as much as possible, so boots and orthotics and working on stance to try to get weight going through the arch rather than the forefoot.

I also lost a fair bit of weight which has helped me but I don't think you have that problem. I have recently been able to do 5K runs without pain which is great as running would have been guaranteed to cause them to flare up previously.

My foot surgeon took the view that we'd try the cortisone once and so I was happy to go along with that. They are 'dormant' for now but if I need to re-address this I will be looking into the cryo thing.

You know it makes sense.

sarah, thanks. Glad yours are under control. Until the very recent flare up I've not had any trouble at all skiing though for some years I've not been able to walk in walking boots for more than a couple of hours at the most, before having to stop and massage my foot (I always have alternative footwear in my backpack). I could spend all day in my ski boots, often didn't undo the clips even at lunchtime. Maybe I have my weight too far back. wink

But then, all of a sudden, the boots became unwearable.

I've made an appointment with my GP for mid October after my walking trip in the Alps. I wouldn't mind trying the cortisone - I had a cortisone injection in my knee in January, which caused no problem at all beyond a brief sharp pain when the steroid hit something inside - and I suppose it helped reduce the swelling more quickly.

Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:

pam w, CEM can make you a Metatarsal Bar to fit into your Ski Boot footbeds, as well as one to fit your walking boots. For me, having both made a big difference to my quality of life. I also use Altberg Boots.

A snowHead

cryotherapy for mortons = usual stuff, if it's such a cost effective and successful treatment then why no significant take up in NHS? not having a go like but .................. rolling eyes

A snowHead

sunnbuel, probably because the National Institute for Cost Effectiveness is busy wasting money on something else

normal protocol as far as i am concerned normally goes along the lines of ... orthotic with neuroma plug or met bar depending on foot, cortisone (normally 3 x over 3-6 weeks) then either surgery or cryotherapy which works for some, the alcohol injections work too but i am not sure of anywhere over here doing them

Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?

I had a neuroma between my big toe and index toe. I did not know what it was. I did not have any traditional symptoms.My podiatrist made me custom orthotics which helped however did not fix the problem.The specialist warned me that he can come back and more injections may be required, but after almost 10 years I'm still in order and I would say that your 6 years without reappearance are also good. Today I do not have any special requirements for shoes, but I try. Walk barefoot or wear casual, loose shoes/sandals like this https://bestoutdooritems.com/best-running-shoes-for-mortons-neuroma-reviews/ There are a TON of negative feed back about surgery on various forums. I definitely had a SUCCESSFUL surgery. I'm 10 months post opp and it has completely recovered.

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i got mortons neuroma, i am a postman and i walk 13 miles a day, and it blooming well hurts, until i had it diagnosed i had never heard of it, but when you come on a forum like this everybodys got it.

Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.

Iv had Mortons Neuroma on and off the last couple years, it keeps coming back and a real nightmare. I started doing some stretches for it which have helped.... but unlike other foot injuires that affect ligaments this is more to do with bones so in my opinion once you damage your bones your stuffed for life Sad

Help!!

My struggle with Morton’s neuroma

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