Forums >Health and Nutrition>Morton's Neuroma
Anybody have Morton's Neuroma?
Anybody run with it?
My wife (who happens to run) has numbness in her feet for the past few months while wearing shoes. She gets the pain (numbness) wearing any type of shoe at any time (work / home / walking / running / ....). Once she takes the shoes off, the feeling comes back.
Finally, she went to the doctor, and they said she has "Morton's Neuroma". Since then, she's been injected with some "incredibly painful" shot that goes into the nerve to try to reduce swelling and [blah, blah, blah] (whatever other doctor lingo here). If not treated properly, apparently, the nerve will be permanently damaged.
At yesterday's visit, the doctor asked her to bring in her running shoes, and he didn't like what she wears while running. He guided her to Asics Kinsei ($185) or Asics Kayano ($150). I don't know why he guided her to those. All I know is that's quite a bit more that we normally pay for her running shoes.
Basically, I tuned in to her condition once I found out how much the shoes were. Dang!
The doctor insisted that when she runs, she wears these expensive shoes.
Any others know anything about this condition and whether the doctor gets kickbacks from ASICS (just kidding) or whether all of the warnings are real and should be taken seriously?
Thanks,
Brian
2013 Goals:
#1: Do what I can do. <DOING>
#2: Finish and enjoy my 2nd full Ironman
I ignored pain on the bottom of my foot for a long while. Then it became pain on the top of my foot (first tingling, then pain when I ran, then pain all the time). My experience with the DPM was a little frustrating, in that he eventually “concluded” it was a neuroma, but couldn’t actually definitively tell me it was that versus a stress fracture/reaction. We also put off the cortisone shot for a long time, while trying together to figure out what it was (can’t give him all the blame, after all I’m the one describing the symptoms and giving the history). Treatment would have been same either way I reckon – lots of time healing (not running). I got better a lot faster after the shot though, which def points to the neuroma.
Anyway, to your shoe point. I am wearing the same shoes I wore before and after the injury – Kinvaras. For me it wasn’t the shoe that was the problem, it was me trying to deliberately mess with my foot strike and pounding the crap outta my forefoot. Since the injury I’ve let the foot fall where it wants to fall – no problems with increased volume so far. Achilles better, calves better, foot better (so far – I take nothing for granted anymore). And really, I don’t feel I’ve sacrificed any speed for not running with a deliberate forefoot strike. And my shoes are lasting longer (440 miles out of the last Kinvaras vs 320 or so out of the previous 2 before the injury).
This was all last sept / oct, all in the ‘ol log.
Don’t know if that helps, was just my experience.
But Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!
Milktruck say relentless
If her feet go numb while wearing one set of shoes, and it doesn't happen with the new shoes....I'd say the doctor was on the right track. Otherwise, it does sound goofy to me.
Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
" ..that corner has narrowed to a half-nekkid egyptian wandering about in the cold new jersey nighttime."~ R2E
This condition is common in folks whose shoes are too small. Funny question: does your wife have (relatively) big feet? [you don't have to answer] Does she buy smaller shoes to make her feet look smaller? It might not be the running shoes; it might be her work shoes.
Would something as simple as buying a half size larger shoe do the trick?
The Logic of Long Distance
This condition is common in folks whose shoes are too small. Funny question: does your wife have (relatively) big feet? [you don't have to answer] Does she buy smaller shoes to make her feet look smaller? It might not be the running shoes; it might be her work shoes. Would something as simple as buying a half size larger shoe do the trick?
Women's size 9.
(I think that's normal size).
I don't think that it's the running shoes. Whatever shoes she wears (crocs, sandles, running shoes, work shoes, slippers, etc.) lead to the same numbing sensation.
I don't think that the shoe recommendation will solve the problem. I think that the shoe recommendation is supposed to prevent the problem after the problem is fixed through the cortisone shots and other stuff that's happening.
The doctor happened to be wearing 1 of the 2 shoes he recommended and described the difference. He took her shoe (without her foot in it, of course), and bent the shoe fore / aft, and the bend was able to occur at about the mid-foot section. It was between the ball of the foot and the arch. He said that is not good for her condition.
He then took his shoe off, and bent his shoe, and it bent at the toes only (imagine the location of the joint of the big toe).
And, I'm pretty sure that the doctor is a runner based on what my wife said.
Apparently, these expensive shoes that he's recommending have a plate in it that prevent it from bending further back on the shoe. And the bend isn't like the left/right rotation bend. It's purely fore/aft bend.
(As I said in my OP, my interest in her foot condition started last night when shopping on RunnersWarehouse.... I'm getting all of my information from a 5 minute dialogue that started with "holy crap, those are expensive".)
I had trouble with a (self diagnosed) Morton's Neuroma a couple of years ago when I started running longer distances. It never bothered me when I wasn't running - that must be very frustrating for your wife. I spent time rolling the bottom of my foot w/ a golf ball and I now lace my shoes halfway up the shoe. I don't lace the bottom 3 holes towards the toe - it keeps the shoe a little looser. And it hasn't been an issue for me. Again, mine was self diagnosed.......
Wish your wife luck for me.
I've had a lot of success with suggesting Lydiard lacing to people with Morton's Neuroma. Of course our website (www.lydiardfoundation.org) where we have a diagram is down at the moment (we are hoping to get it up this week). If you are interested, I can send it to you in a PDF form. Send me an e-mail at nobby415@msn.com
I've had it for several years now. There was a time about 4 years ago that I was limiting my mileage because the foot was getting irritated and the pain/tingling would persist even with shoes off. I looked into the surgeries and alcohol shots but I didn't like the side effects I was reading about so I went non-invasive. I got some toe stretchers and used them religiously for a couple of weeks. It took a while to get so I could tolerate the stretchers for more than a minute or so, but now I can wear them for a half hour. Once my toes got stretched the neuroma stopped bothering me almost completely. Now I only feel it on longer runs and when the barometer is dropping.
VIFL 14K 9 Feb - 58:31 (PR)
Boston Marathon 15 Apr
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