Sunday, May 10, 2009

Oh The Nerve!

About seven years ago I was running and experienced a pain in my foot like none I had ever experienced before. A few years prior, I'd experienced a stress-fracture of the second metatarsal in my left foot which took a while to heal, but that pain was very different. This pain was a sharp, burning pain between the third and fourth toes on my right foot. The pain radiated from the ball of my foot through those two toes every time my forefoot hit the ground. I had to stop. Couldn't run. I limped back home.

After I rested and iced my foot, it felt better. I walked around and the pain was gone or so I thought. As I got out of bed and walked barefoot across the room the next morning, that same pain reappeared. It wasn't as intense as on my run the previous day, but I figured that was because I was walking not pounding the pavement. Once I put on my shoes, it seemed to disappear again. I was baffled. Running—pain. Barefooted walking—pain. A few days passed and trying to ignore it didn't seem to be working, so I called the doctor who had treated my stress fracture.

The doc checked out my foot. He pressed firmly on the area of my foot where the pain originated and "Eee-owww!" He looked up at me and said, "Morton's Neuroma. You have Morton's Neuroma." Sounded bad to me, but he quickly explained that I was having a problem with a nerve in my foot. The doc further explained that a neuroma is a noncancerous growth of nerve tissue. He said it can occur anywhere in the body, but when it occurs between the third and fourth toes causing sharp burning pain or even numbness, it's called Morton's Neuroma. He also said it was pretty common in runners. When you run, as you land on the ball of your foot, the resulting pressure causes the nerve tissue to get squished by the bones of the two toes, resulting in the pain.

My first question to the doc was, "What causes it?" His response, "Don't know." He said it's been studied but no one seems to know exactly what causes it. Sometimes it appears after trauma to the foot, but other times it just seems to appear for no reason.

Second question, "How do we get rid of it?" Doc's response "Several options—wearing a metatarsal pad, corticosteroid injections, or surgery." I was about a month away from running a marathon, so the injections or the surgery really weren't good options. He preferred trying the metatarsal pad first over the other two options anyway. You're not immediately able to run right after having the injection and sometimes you need more than one and surgery doesn't always solve the problem.

So, we opted for the pad. But I was confused. Seemed to me that if I put a pad under the ball of my foot, it would cause more pressure, resulting in the shooting pain in my toes. Come to find out, the pad doesn't go under the ball of your foot. Instead, the pad is placed just behind the metatarsals. This way when you run and land on the ball of your foot, the pad actually receives most of the pressure. The direct pressure to the metatarsals is decreased alleviating the pain.

He gave me a pad and showed me where to place it on the insole in my right shoe. It had an adhesive backing which secured it in place. I went for a run that afternoon and it worked! No pain. Now each time I buy a new pair of shoes I also buy a new metatarsal pad. Funny how I can hardly walk barefoot, but I can run a marathon! Thanks goodness for metatarsal pads.

13 comments:

Lybbe said...

good information to know. thanks for posting it.

RunnerDude said...

Hey Lybbe! Thanks for reading! Hope it's prettier in Canada than it is in NC right now. Pouring down rain.

RunningLaur said...

Very interesting - glad it's better now!

RunnerDude said...

Hey RunningLaur! Thanks! Hoping if someone else is experiencing a similar problem, they'll be reassured that they can run again.

JenZen said...

Good stuff! Thanks for sharing!

RunnerDude said...

Thanks JenZen! Thanks for reading!

runnerinsight said...

Thank you for this information. This helps a lot to every runner out there and to me also. Thank you!

RunnerDude said...

Hey Runnerinsight! Thanks for the feedback. Been reading your site. Awesome! What an inspiration!

Running Through Life said...

Thanks for the info on this. With some of my foot issues I have been having, I need to keep this in the back of mind.

Anonymous said...

Hey Runnerdude,
I also had Morton's neuroma. I had it prior to my first marathon in February and I (like you) could hardly walk on my tile floor--ooouuuchh--but the carpet was not much better. I went to the "foot" doctor w/my running shoes and insole in tow and he gave me a pad and he put it right in there for me. It has been great--it took a couple of months, but I now have no pain--no injections or surgery. I've run three marathons since then. I got a bad case of plantar fasciitis and felt like I had a heel spur but I believe that was due to the new (different brand) of shoe I wore after the second marathon. Let me know if your neuroma pain goes away.

RunnerDude said...

Hey Running Through Life! Hopefully you won't have it, but luckily this little pad seems to do the trick if you ever do.

RunnerDude said...

Hey Anonymous! So far I still have that Morton's Neuroma. Doens't usually bother me in regular shoes if I'm just walking. Differnt story if barefoot. If I'm running I have to have the pad, but it does the trick. Doc said it may go away on it's own. Still waiting for that to happen, but as long as I have the pad, I'm good to go!

Anonymous said...

I think having the shoes w/the wider toe box (to spread the toes out)helped my situation as well.