Glad to hear you have recovered and are enjoying the good foot!
I appreciate you sharing your experience.
No problem! Wanted to share my experience because when I was looking to have it there didn’t seem to be too much info from runner/triathletes.
Bumping this thread to hear how everyone has been. Foot is usually really great but at times, seemingly random, I get a little ball of fluid by the incision and the bottom of my foot feels like it’s bruised. It’s happened a few times and went to see the doc and he said no worries as long as the toes are still numb, which they are. Going to see another doc next month. It really only “hurts†when I’m barefoot but wondering if others have had this. Seems like something is causing swelling in the area but still not close to as painful as the actual neuroma.
I’m 6 months post surgery. Finished up with PT probably a month ago. Still have a fair amount of inflammation and cannot curl my third toe all the way down, but no real pain. My doc said it could take up to a year for the inflammation to go away. I can walk, run, ride with no real issue. just a constant swelling feeling and cannot really get up on my toes on my right foot anymore, that still hurts. Still I’m glad to be rid of that sucker.
Nice! That thing is huge. My doc didn’t get a pic and they didn’t let me see it but when I got my ultra sound they said it was close to dime size. Glad it seems like you’re recovery is going well. What I did basically all day for months was just flex and curl my toes. I did that a lot right after surgery and the only time I can’t curl them well is days like yesterday when it seems to be a bit swollen like I said in my last post. But it’s a lot better than yesterday so I’ll take a few more days off running and see if it goes back to normal.
I failed to mention, along with removing the alien, he had to lengthen a tendon and put a small pin in one of the toe bones to realign and straighten everything out.
Ahh yeah that sounds to me like it will impact recovery and ability to curl toes. I have a bent 2nd toe and after my surgeon told me he wished he thought about it before surgery and he would have straighten it out. But happy he didn’t since it doesn’t cause me issues!
And even with my soreness issues I would still do surgery 10 out of 10 times with how bad the pain was when I finally decided. I dealt with it for a few years but finally got painful enough where I couldn’t run so I knew I had to do it. And also happy I did it when I did because if I waited another month it would have been pushed because of non emergency surgery being shut down for COVID. It would have been a LONG lock down if I could not have ran!
I am very happy to be able to run again. Though this was the the straw that broke the camels back for me and racing. 4 surgeries in the last 5 years, enough is enough. Now I’m just plodding along for fun and some fitness.
I’ve had Morton’s Neuroma flareups for the past three years, maybe once every 6 months. After each flare up, I get a cortisone shot in my foot, and I am usually good for the next 6 months.
My last shot was in July, and I am already starting to feel some tingling of discomfort. I could continue to run until I can’t anymore (1-2 weeks of subpar training), make an appt (1 -2 week wait), get the shot (recover for a week), and continue running. However, I am experiencing anxiety of not knowing when I’ll need my next shot since I can write that entire month off from productive training. I also think there is some advantage of looking into surgery into the off season instead of needing surgery later in the middle of race season. But, my foot doctor (former all american triathlete who has had the surgery himself) insists that I should not pursue surgery until the shots stop working.
If you have had Morton’s Neuromas before, what was the threshold that pushed you over the edge to get surgery? To the doctor’s in the room, at what point would you consider cortisone shots not working if they provide relief for x months?
Hey OP, I’m a physician but not an orthopedist or sports med. I’ve managed a Morton’s Neuroma issue for several years now and run with no issues. I experimented quite a bit and found that I can run in a specific type of shoe. Originally it was a Hoka, but they changed the padding and I had pain return. When I trialed an Altra brand shoe, with a custom orthotic I made myself where I cut away the space below my area of pain, I’ve been running pain free for years since.
I personally didn’t like the outcomes that I saw with surgery, and I was worried about the side effects of injections, so I was very glad to find a non-surgical way to address it. Currently I’m quite happy with my approach, for what it’s worth.
Wish you the best in getting sorted.
I wish I was as lucky as you! Maybe I waited too long but I tried pads, wider shoes, KT tape, toe spacers and anything else before shots. 2 of 3 shots worked then it got to the point where I couldn’t run and walking was painful so I had to do it. Wish non surgical worked though!
For any one researching this topic you should try non surgical treatments first. For me wider shoes and a metatarsal pad has mostly resolved my issues. What works for one person may not work for another. Try different shaped pads, wider shoes, cut aways, etc. If none of this works then consider surgery.
Not sure if you’ve read the thread but it’s been experiences from many of their journey through different treatments before surgery. No one has said “oh your foot hurts? Cut it open!â€. And what many of us have said is even after all of the non surgical treatments, some trying for years, it didn’t get fixed and we had surgery. And this thread is about our journey not talking people into surgery.
Diamond Dogs, mount up!
Three years of this blasted neuroma and I am still on the fence, progressively getting huskier, and still debating whether or not to go down the surgical route.
I have recently seen two different orthopedic surgeons. Both advised surgery (of course!)
Surgeon #1 - He was bullish on yanking the neuroma out.Surgeon #2 - He had a more moderate approach.
First he would cut the intermetatarsal ligament and inspect the nerve/neuroma. He said sometimes he will opt to ONLY cut the ligament which will alleviate the decompression of the nerve by creating more space between the metatarsals.
QUESTION: Does it make sense to cut the ligament and not remove the neuroma? I thought that when the ligament is cut, it is normally reattached after and if that is the case it would re-compress the nerve. Second, if he deemed the nerve was trash he would cut it out.
@Jreilly: Thanks for resurfacing on this thread. I am sorry to hear you are having some issues with swelling in the foot after your operation. I the bruised feeling on the bottom of the foot sounds rough.
Sounds like the recovery process takes longer than advertised. A year of swelling!
For anyone post morton’s neuroma surgery, how does your foot feel now? Better/Worse? Are you able to do all the things you could before neuroma?
Any input is much appreciated,
Doubtful Dude
I believe one of the surgeons talked about the ligament cutting but either way my surgeon took it out. He said it was big and needed to get it out. Wish I could help more with the different approaches but if you have been dealing with it for 3 years, like I did, it seems like it’ll be big enough and painful enough that it needs to come out.
As far as my foot, I haven’t had a year of swelling it has been a few weeks. And even now it is no where close to as painful/uncomfortable as it was with the neuroma. Even if I end up having another surgery I wouldn’t take back the original surgery because 2 years ago I couldn’t run at all and walking was painful. I have an ultrasound this week to see where the fluid is coming from then my surgeon will be able to figure out the plan of action.
Even as I sit here with fluid on the top of my foot from something in the area I would have done the same thing again. If you have tried all of the non surgical options and you can’t live with the pain/discomfort it looks like surgery is the only option. Also, my surgeon said he hasn’t seen what’s going on in my foot after a neuroma surgery so yay I am special! Sadly not the way I want to be though, ha.
I’ll keep bumping this thread when I get updates on my foot just to keep it fresh in case others are looking for info.
Replying to this thread to share my experience as it seems to be a pretty well-established thread.
Developed Morton’s neuroma symptoms several years ago (maybe 5 years?), after no significant change in mileage, footwear, body habitus. I had intractable pain running; it was completely untenable.
Experimentation led me to find some cushioned Hoka running shoes. Those worked initially, but Hoka discontinued the model and the new, firmer padding led to pain.
I found Altra running shoes with a wider toe box. Using an upsized Altra, I made a custom “orthotic” where I cut a hole in a soft insole and added a metatarsal pad underneath ‘around’ the cutout I made. This worked great! I can run without any symptoms, as long as I have this orthotic. It has been, then, several years with uninterrupted training using simply this orthotic approach in Altra (wider toe box) shoes.
I’m a physician, but not orthopod or sports med (disclaimer: this ‘advice’ is non-professional and non-medical; consult your care team for guidance), but I reviewed a lot of the studies for Morton’s Neuroma surgical outcomes and I was pretty underwhelmed with the outcomes. My goal was to exhaust any non-surgical outcomes, and this has worked very well for me.
Thanks y’all, I appreciate the consideration and sharing of your experiences.
@Yrocket: Could you post a pic of your insert or share how you figured where to cut the insole? I have tried that approach, cutting a notch out of the insole, but i might have cut too wide or in the wrong place. It seems to me that it would work. When i tried it i took the sole out of the shoe, and stood on it to try and pinpoint the location to cut out.
I also tried to use duct tape and a metatarsal pad to create a slide on attachment to my foot. This actually worked fairly well but put a lot of pressure on the strap in between the toes.
Hey TBCJr,
Just went through an ordeal with one of this things that started late 2017. My journey as follows:
December 2017/Jan 2018 - first symptoms of a hot foot and nervy pain going up stairs. Modified running and rested, but apparently the ship had sailed.
Jan 2018- June 2018 - patchy run training building for IM Boulder. Would need a day or two off after every run as the foot pain was intense. Had a met pad, didn’t really do much for me at the time. Post IM, foot was a disaster and I thought I would have to amputate. Kidding of course, but it was awful. Not much for running for a couple of months after this as if felt like I had a rock in my foot and I could feel it clicking.
June 2018-June 2019 - pain subsided with rest but never pushed it much with training. Stairs had to be managed specifically, and stability activities or jumping were out of the question. Had a US guided cortisone shot June 2019 - zero help.
June -Oct 2019 - working overseas, ran here and there, maybe it was a little bit less aggravated but still could feel it walking on bumpy surfaces.
June 2020 - cortisone shot number 2. No help. Referral for sclerosing alcohol injection, which actually has some decent research behind it. While some people experience the return of symptoms, the same happens with surgery, except you aren’t cut open.
August - Shot 1: freezing, US guided alcohol and cortisone. Not much change.
Mid September - Shot 2: noticeable improvement.
Mid October - Shot 3: definitely improvement. Able to run concurrent days for the first time in 2.5 years. Using a met pad as well and OTC pronation orthotic.
Here is where it gets interesting
Shot 4 was in mid-November. The neuroma had shrunk substantially. In the first and second appointment I could feel the pressure of the needle moving the inflamed tissue in my foot. This was no longer the case, and although I am not an ultrasound tech or radiologist, I could see the neuroma was smaller on screen.
After this shot I had the usual bruising but anticipated zero issues afterwards seeing as the third shot had been a dream. Instead, I had a period of intense discomfort for about 3.5 weeks where running was almost entirely out of the question and I had to walk on my heels down stairs. After inquiring with the radiologist, he said that standardized doses might be too aggressive in the later stage shots (or something to this effect), and that I was probably having a bit of an adverse reaction. He recommended holding off on a 5th shot until things calmed down.
I was able to run daily again in February with a pretty standard level of daily discomfort, but concurrent days didn’t make anything worse. Still using a met pad at this point. Finally, one day (I want to say April?) when finishing a run I noticed the met pad was almost irritating me. I took it out on my cooldown. To this day I haven’t put it back in because I have essentially zero discomfort. That day I jumped pain free for the first time in just over 3 years. I went into full blown IM training up to 30km over trail and pavement with no repercussions. Felt like my old self! All I had in my shoes was an OTC orthotic for pronation in the problematic shoe, but, I don’t even require that anymore and had dropped it by June of last year. All running, jumping, anything, is non-provocative. I do F45 to mix things up and there is ABSOUTELY no way I could have done any of those movements 2 years ago without breaking into tears. I am very happy with my result.
My take:
I would recommend trying the injection if you are able to. I read several studies where there was decent outcomes vs surgery. I am an athletic therapist by trade and I have seen several still symptomatic surgical people in my work. I would try it and see what happens. I am not sure what happened with my 4th shot, but in all honesty it was another 3.5 weeks on a 3 year journey and I am back to normal at this point. Maybe try a cheap insole w/met pad combination like I had while you are doing the treatment and go from there.
If you want more info DM me
Cheers and good luck!
I’ve had neuromas in both feet for 45 years now…
What’s worked well for me is a trick Johnny Halberstadt at the Boulder Running Co. showed me: cut a small circle of orthopedic felt and stick it to the bottom of the inner of the shoe, just behind the metatarsals. It usually takes a few tries with each new pair of shoes to get the pad situated just right, but once it’s there, it lifts and separates the metatarsals and relieves the pressure on the neuroma. This helps with the pain and helps prevent further damage.
Placement of the pads is critical - this is why any consumer product except a custom orthotic probably won’t work. Doing it yourself allows for cheap trial-and-error until the pads are exactly right.
it’s critical to have plenty of room in the toe box of ALL your shoes, running, bike, and work/casual. Compression of the metatarsals is a factor in this injury. Make sure to get running shoes with excellent forefoot cushion, that’s the primary characteristic I look for these days; and replace them often. Run on softer surfaces - grass, dirt roads, or synthetic tracks - whenever possible. Concrete is a terrible surface to run on…
Also, be careful of running with the pain. A couple of years ago, I didn’t put the pads in a new pair of racing shoes, and consequently tore a calf muscle because I was compensating for the neuroma pain by altering my pushoff. Stupid stupid stupid.