Morton neuroma is an inflamed nerve that causes pain in the football, tingling and numbness. Many complain about the socks bundled under the foot balls and others complain that they are walking in chunks, big pebbles or lamp codes. Some things represent "twang" in a foot ball like a guitar string. Pain can be dull with football, radiation, electricity, tingling, or burning, you can shoot to the 3rd and 4th toes. Standing, walking, painful worse with the cramped shoes of hills and stairs, generally relieved by shoes breaks and shoes removal.
Initial treatment of Morton neuroma is to eliminate factors that caused or exacerbated it. In many cases, tight shoes convuls your toes, squeezes the nerve, causing irritation, inflammation and pain. Excessive turns cause instability of forefoot and excessive motion of long bones. This type of abnormal paw dynamics, combined with flexible and flexible shoes, can cause neuromas.
Ice the foot ball twice a day for 15 minutes or contrasting hot and cold days for 30 minutes each day helps to reduce inflation. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or naproxen can also reduce inflammation and pain. The neuroma pad helps to disperse forepaw pressure and alleviate nerve irritation. Steroid injection and neural hardening injection can also be used.
If conservative treatment fails, surgery is recommended. Surgery involves releasing the ligament and applying pressure to the nerve, or removing neuromas. Removal of the neuroma will result in permanent numbness in the toe, but toe function is unaffected.
Researchers discovered that extracorporeal shock wave therapy is a safe and effective treatment for Morton's neuroma in a new study published in the Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association. Extracorporeal shock wave treatment (ESWT) is a procedure that leads strong sound waves in the injured area. Sonic waves create vibration that causes micro trauma to the tissue.
The body creates new blood vessels and responds by sending healing factors and inflammatory cells to stimulate the natural healing process. ESWT has been used for the treatment of kidney stones for many years. In 2000, the FDA approved ESWT for the treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis, which is a painful condition of the heel. ESWT is currently not approved for the treatment of neuroma.
In this study, researchers divided 25 patients with Morton neuroma not responding to conservative treatment for at least 8 months, either as active treatment group or as sham treatment group. Both groups were placed in the treatment room and subjected to intravenous sedation and local anesthesia. The active treatment group was treated by extracorporeal shock wave treatment, and the sham group did not receive treatment.
At 12 weeks after surgery, the in vitro shock wave treatment group showed significant pain relief compared to sham treatment group. Potential complications associated with extracorporeal shock wave treatment include mockery, pain, swelling, nerve damage and bleeding but incidence is less than 1%. These results of this study are encouraging and it may turn out that ESWT is effective as a surgical alternative treatment. However, this is a small scale study and further research is needed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of extracorporeal shock wave therapy for treating Morton's neuroma.
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy for Friedman R, Cain JD, Will L. Interdigital Neuroma. Randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind trial. Japan. See Vol 99, No 3, May / June 2009.
