Morton's Neuroma is a benign soft tissue mass that forms on the nerve which runs between the metatarsals, in the ball of the foot. When two metatarsal bones rub together, they pinch the nerve that runs between them. This repeated pinching, or repeated injury to the nerve, will cause the nerve to swell, and eventually a benign mass occurs at the site of the repeated injury. This mass is known as a Morton's Neuroma (named after the physician who first described this mass, in 1876).

The symptoms may appear and disappear spontaneously. Severe pain may be present at weight bearing and the patient may experience spontaneous shooting pains, which is often referred to as an " electric shock" . This can affect patients when are sleeping at night. Mechanical problems with the feet such as "over pronation" can cause this condition. Over pronation can be simply described as a condition, which causes your arches to flatten out when you stand up. This causes your ankles to roll in towards each other and disturbs your normal walking pattern

Treatment Overview

Custom-Made Orthotics are considered to be the most effective conservative treatment for Morton's neuroma, especially in is early stages; and, in preventing a neuroma from forming.

They:

Prevent the metatarsals from pinching the nerves which run between them.

Protect the balls of the feet with materials that will absorb friction and excessive pressure, rather then passing these forces on to the nerves and bones in the balls of the feet.

Support the arch of the foot so that it can aid in shock absorption. The primary shock absorber of our feet is the arch. To aid this structure so that it can properly support the foot and absorb shock, we construct our custom-made orthotics so that they provide semi-flexible support to the arch, by “giving” to absorb the shock of each step, rather than our foot absorbing the shock.