Symptoms and Treatments of Morton’s Neuroma

Morton’s neuroma is a painful condition that affects the foot. Most people experience pain between the toes or in the ball of the foot. They may also have a burning, aching, or numb feeling in the area. The cause is the thickening of the tissue surrounding a nerve leading to the toes. Many factors can lead to Morton’s neuroma, but the most likely cause is frequently wearing high-heeled footwear. As such, the condition is most often seen in women.

Feeling like there’s a lump in the shoe

One of the more common symptoms of this condition manifests itself when you feel like there’s a lump in your shoe. Some people describe it as the feeling when there’s a pebble in your shoe. You may experience this when you’re standing or walking. If you want to feel relief from this symptom, you can remove your shoes. You can also rub your feet to help lessen the sign. Also, you can use shoe inserts to reduce the pressure on the thickening nerve that’s affected.

Tingling in the toes

When you feel tingling in your toes, this may be a symptom of Morton’s neuroma. In the beginning, you might feel this tingling in the gaps between your toes. Over time, the tingling sensation may worsen or even develop into pain. The tingling sensation, also known as paresthesia, may be a symptom of other conditions. So it’s best to consult with a doctor if it happens frequently. If you want to ease the symptom, consider changing your shoes. Select a pair of shoes which has a wider area for the toes. This will help alleviate the pressure on the affected nerve in your foot.

Numbness

Aside from tingling, you may also feel numbness in your toe. As time goes by, this numbness might even radiate to the adjacent toes. Apart from your toes, you may also think that insensitivity on the bottom part of your foot.  When you feel this sensation in your feet, you can relieve it by removing your shoes or footwear. Then take a seat and start massaging the affected area gently. This will help reduce the numbness to bring back the feeling to your feet.

Dull, persistent pain

You may start to feel a dull, persistent pain because of the condition. Usually, you’d feel this pain between your third and fourth toes. You may experience this dull pain suddenly while you’re walking. In the beginning, the pain might be more noticeable when you wear narrow, tight, or high-heeled shoes. Either that or when you perform activities which place pressure on your affected foot. The dull pain may stay for days or even weeks. Fortunately, you can relieve this condition by resting. If the pain isn’t much, you can try performing exercises for stretching and strengthening. These exercises may help strengthen the arch of your foot.

Burning pain

People suffering from Morton’s neuroma may also experience a burning type of pain. You may feel this in the ball of the foot, and it may spread to the toes. Just like with the dull pain, it’s more evident when standing or walking. Sometimes, the intensity of the pain may even force you to limp or stop walking altogether. You can relieve this pain by massaging your foot. If you can’t bear the pain, you may take pain relievers as prescribed by your doctor. Also, you may ask your doctor to administer a steroid injection into the affected area.

Difficulty walking

Since the primary symptom of Morton’s neuroma is the pain, you might start a difficulty walking. Depending on the level of pain you’re experiencing, you may begin feeling anxious about standing or walking. This is especially true when the pain starts radiating to the surrounding areas of your foot. However, although you feel pain, you won’t notice any swelling in your foot. If the pain escalates to the point that you can’t put up with it, you may take some over-the-counter painkillers. If you have this condition and you’re also overweight, consider losing weight to lessen the strain on your foot.

Symptoms that come and go

Symptoms of this condition may come and go. In fact, some of the symptoms appear gradually. In the beginning, you may only notice them when you’re performing strenuous activities. Either that or when you’re wearing the wrong type of footwear. Then when you stop and take your shoes off, the symptoms go away. But as time goes by, the symptoms may come back, become worse, and persist for days or weeks at a time. To alleviate the symptoms, you can try some padding for your footwear. This will help lessen the pressure on the nerve that’s affected by the condition. You can also place an ice pack on the area if there’s any swelling. If you know that you have the disease, consider changing your activities to reduce the symptoms too.

Foot discomfort

If you don’t feel pain, you might experience some level of discomfort on your feet. But just like the pain, the discomfort worsens when you stand, walk, or wear shoes which squeeze your feet. Also, the trouble (and pain) might not be as noticeable at night. With this symptom, it’s important to think about the footwear you use. When you already feel discomfort, try to choose footwear that’s bigger and wider than what you usually wear. Also, stay away from shoes which have thin soles. When it comes to footwear, always go for the comfortable option when you’re suffering from Morton’s neuroma.

No apparent symptoms

There are also some cases when the condition doesn’t manifest itself in any symptoms. You might not feel pain, discomfort, numbness or tingling. Also, you won’t notice any swelling in your feet. In this case, the only way you’ll know that you have the condition is when a doctor diagnoses it.  Usually, the symptoms of this disease get resolved. You’d need simple treatments for most of the symptoms. These include resting, taking over-the-counter medications, and changing your footwear.

Lump on the foot

This is a very rare symptom of Morton’s neuroma. An unusual and outward sign of the condition is a lump on foot. In this case, your state may already be quite severe. Aside from all the other symptoms, a lump on foot may also point to this condition.  This may indicate that the thickened tissue gets swollen. In such case, a doctor would have to remove the swollen tissue and the lump through surgery.