Do you always feel like there is a pebble caught in your shoe, right in the ball of your foot—but when you go to check, there is nothing there? You might have Morton’s neuroma.
In a sense, the condition really is not that different from standing on an actual pebble. Only instead of a pebble, it is a mass of thickened tissue surrounding a nerve in your foot—usually between the base of your third and fourth toes. And instead of being inside your shoe, it is inside your foot.
A neuroma is caused by the squeezing and irritation of a nerve fiber that provides feeling to the skin in between the toes. This nerve is located right underneath the ligament called the transverse intermetatarsal ligament in the ball of the foot. The nerve can get trapped with that ligament, causing unfortunate pressure on the nerve and triggering a reaction on the nerve which can lead to fibrosis and the thickening of the nerve.
You probably will not be able to directly see or even feel a neuroma—there is no noticeable “lump” that you can find when you push on the area with your fingers. But when you put weight on your foot, the neuroma pushes uncomfortably against the nerve.
The thickened, fibrotic nerve ends up compressing the nerve cells, thus causing pain. The pain can become so severe that it prevents you from standing or walking properly. It can feel like a burning pain or like you are standing on a sharp pebble or stone, with the feeling often coming and going. A numbing or tingling in the toes may also come with the pain. However, in other cases of neuromas, some people do not have any symptoms at all.
It is not always possible to identify a specific cause for every situation. That said, in a more general sense, neuromas tend to develop as a response to an injury or constant irritation and pressure in and around the nerve tissue.
Risk factors linked with a higher risk of neuromas include:
Too many people live with neuroma pain for far too long before finding the solutions that work best for them. Many other doctors normally treat neuromas with standard treatments such as cortisone injections or a minimally invasive procedure of cryotherapy or surgical treatment through a neurectomy.
In most cases, corticosteroid injections provide temporary relief, lasting up to a few weeks. There are potential risks with corticosteroid injections, although side effects are unlikely to happen with one injection. Some reactions do happen, however, so you should keep this in mind if having corticosteroid injections. Some reactions include:
Ultrasound RFA involves local anesthesia to numb the foot and a minimally invasive incision. Then the doctor or surgeon uses an electric current in controlled doses to heat soft tissues around the neuroma. The heat created is a result of radiofrequency probing which allows selective destruction of pain-transmitting nerve fibers so as to induce cell death, thus killing the nerve-transmitting cell.
The ultrasound-guided cryoablation procedure on the other hand also involves local anesthesia and a minimal incision as well. However, the doctor or surgeon instead uses the insertion of a needle in order to freeze the neuroma at an extremely cold temperature.
Our goal is to get rid of the neuroma naturally and avoid the need for surgery. We believe that we are the only clinic in Long Island that offers the only innovative, non-surgical, non-invasive, drug-free solution to treat neuromas. We can effectively treat neuromas without surgery in almost every case. We use the most amazing state-of-the-art Nd:Yag laser treatment solution that will shrink neuromas.
The Laser used to treat Morton’s Neuroma is the Nd:YAG Laser. This type of laser is not a “cold” laser, and there are no known adverse effects. The 1064 wavelength of the Nd:YAG laser is very effective in treating thickened nerve tissue, and there is no ionizing radiation emitted from the laser.
This is a new treatment for Morton’s neuroma. We do not know the long-term results as of yet however, patients report no recurrence of symptoms after greater than three years following treatment.
The procedure is approximately 95% successful, meaning 95% of the patients we have treated are “satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the results. Follow-up diagnostic ultrasound studies have shown a reduction in the size of the neuroma.
This includes 10 treatments, once a week, performed in the office without anesthesia. The procedure takes approximately 10 minutes, so it is quick and you can continue with your day without any post-procedure care needed.
Although inactivity may reduce some swelling around the nerve, the improvement is usually temporary; the scar tissue will remain around the nerve and therefore it is unlikely to provide any long-term benefit.
No. There is some warmth felt during the procedure, but patients do not complain of any pain.
No. Patients are able to maintain full activity with no restrictions immediately following the procedure.
No. The procedure is performed in the office with no anesthesia.
Heel pain does not have to be unbearable, and it is not necessary for you to skip moments of happiness in life. Life is too short! If your current treatment plan and home remedies are not working for you, then it is time for you to take a step back and discover other options. So, you can find the right treatment plan for your heel pain, you will need to see the Regenerative Medicine specialists who specializes in non-surgical, non-invasive regenerative medicine treatment for you that won’t risk your health. Listen, you make hundreds of decisions every month. Some are more important than others but one of the most important decisions you will ever make is in terms of your health. So, what are you waiting for? I encourage you to take a step today.
Give us a call to see how Hicksville Laser therapy can help!
*Disclaimer: Although welcome for treatment, these patients are excluded from offers:
1) MEDICARE, MEDICAID, TRICARE, and other government healthcare program participants and 2) personal injury and worker's compensation claimants.
