Your shoes might be causing a Morton’s Neuroma

By Adrian Bianco|2025-10-19T22:08:35+00:00October 19th, 2025|

Mortons neuroma treatment Melbourne Podiatrist

What is a Morton’s Neuroma?

Morton’s neuroma is a painful condition involving the compression and irritation of the interdigital nerve, most commonly between the third and fourth metatarsal bones. Pain can range from mild discomfort to actively impacting your ability to walk long distances, run and be on your feet in general.

Causes and Contributing Factors of Neuromas

One of the most common causes of neuromas are compressive forces from shoes. This includes footwear that is:

Too tight/small
Poorly fitted to foot shape/type
Too narrow, with tapered toe boxes
High heels
Soles that are too hard

These factors can easily increase forefoot pressure, compressing the metatarsal heads together, which in turn compresses the nerve and causing irritation over time. This can also lead to bursitis, which can exist with a neuroma, exacerbating pain levels.

Other non-footwear related factors also include:

Repetitive trauma/ overuse in activities that involve a lot of forefoot loading, like running or dancing
Flat feet (pes planus)
Hypermobile feet
High arch, rigid, lateral loading foot types (cavus)
HAV (bunion) deformities
Metatarsal joint instability from other forefoot injuries (notably plantar plate injuries)

Do I have a neuroma or forefoot compression injury?

Symptoms of neuromas normally include:

Burning, tingling, or shooting pain in the forefoot, often radiating to the toes.
Sensations like walking on a pebble or having their sock bunched up.
Symptoms can be intermittent:
- worsened by tight shoes or prolonged weight-bearing
- relieved by removing footwear or massaging the foot

Why is addressing compression from footwear so important with neuromas?

Simply put; because of how much it contributes to the causation of the neuroma. But another big reason is that not addressing the footwear can inhibit progress from other treatments such as stability taping, orthotics, and injection therapy. It would be negligent, as no matter how perfect your orthotics or how accurate an injection may be – the nerve can still be compressed and irritated by unsuitable footwear.

Treatment of Morton’s Neuroma

Management of Morton’s neuroma often begins conservatively. Footwear modification is crucial; shoes with a wide toe box, low heel, and adequate cushioning can reduce forefoot pressure.

Other treatments options include:

Orthotics
Metatarsal padding
foot exercises and mobilisation
injection therapies
nerve ablation
surgery (last resort)

Morton’s neuroma is a common source of forefoot pain, often caused by mechanical factors such as footwear and foot structure. Our Melbourne Podiatrists are experienced with this injury and can assess your current footwear and give advice about what shoes may suit you best.

We can also help advise and provide other treatments if they are required or suitable to help improve your foot function, such as gait analysis, orthotics, exercises or foot mobilisation.