An excruciating pain in the last toes, which resembles an electric shock, when you put your foot down but also when you are at rest and even at night. Sometimes tingling and loss of sensation. Morton’s neuroma – told on social media in great detail by the influencer Giulia De Lellisbut from which the queen also suffers Joy of Spain – it is a very common pathology that mainly affects women and is caused by chronic microtraumas that inflame the digital nerves but above all the third digital nerve which innervates the third and fourth toes of the foot since the space between the third and fourth metatarsal is anatomically smaller . Over time, these continuous microtraumas cause not only inflammation but also thickening of the nerve, which increases in size and then – passing through the heads of the metatarsals – is crushed causing pain. In some cases the patient feels a ball to the touch. Morton’s neuroma is therefore a degenerative pathology of the plantar nerves.
The cause
The causes of these microtraumas are many and often linked to the conformation of the foot which causes poor support, such as hallux valgus or flat or hollow foot, for example. High-heeled shoes are not unequivocally recognized as the cause but the fact that they shift all the weight on the forefoot if it is not the cause of the pathology can certainly aggravate it. As well as tight-toe shoes and not surprisingly, among the immediate interventions, there is also the prescription of suitable footwear. And often the patient has relief from walking barefoot. Even running can favor the pathology since the feet are subjected to continuous micro-traumas. As well as foot injuries.
How to intervene
As a first intervention, cortisone infiltrations are used, together with orthotics to improve foot support and try to avoid compression on the nerve, ice. It doesn’t always resolve itself and indeed, even when the pain passes, it tends to return. Physiotherapy and laser therapy can provide relief. When the dimensions of the Neuroma exceed 4-5 mm, surgical treatment is recommended, with a small incision on the back of the foot to remove the Neuroma. The patient walks again without the use of crutches and physiotherapy.