Morton’s neuroma is characterized by pain between a pair of toes, between the “knuckles”, and a painful “click” there in every step. The nerve has been squeezed and has swollen, which is called a neuroma. It’s caused by wearing shoes that aren’t wide enough. It disproportionately more often affects women as they tend to have tighter footwear but of course can affect men too, especially for those that have wide feet. 99% of modern shoes “bunch up” the toes and can cause this.
If you have these symptoms, you should start wearing shoes with wide toe boxes immediately to not make it worse, and also consider wearing toe separators. If it’s still not too bad, this can make the symptoms go away. This helped for me but I never came back to normal. I’m currently recovering from surgery to have this fixed, where they simply cut off this nerve.
Damn, I’m glad you’re out here spreading the good word. I literally wear holes in the sides of my shoes from the outside toes rubbing against the toe box sides. I treasure the rare shoe that I find that doesn’t ruin my day with pinching (because pinching should be enjoyable, goddamnit!), and am pissed off that I never seem to be able to find those shoes again (how many fucking different shoes do we need, and why do they have to change every year, goddamnit!).
I feel your pain there, my favorite shoes have also changed in a way that makes me unable to wear them. Unfortunately it’s generally very hard to find shoes that aren’t shaped to pinch the toes. Look into the following brands:
Lems (Primal Zen is especially good as a walking shoe)
Joe Nimble (I have the Wandertoes boots, perfect for winter and rainy conditions)
Altra (with the “original” toe box, for example Lone Peak and Escalante, although sadly for me while Escalante 2.5 has been a dream and enabled me to walk and run again, sadly Escalante 4.0 does not work for me)
Topo - I’ve tested a model I don’t remember the name of and if the surgery doesn’t fix it for me (this is the second surgery I go through it…) I might get a pair for running, they are ok
These brands all offer shoes that have very wide toe boxes but where the rest of the shoe is normal width.
I’ve generally been able to do most activities despite this condition, but there’s always a worry about not finding shoes that work for me. My two pairs of Escalante 2.5 are falling apart, and I’m not sure what to replace them with when they finally break. Also I couldn’t imagine ice skating or skiing with this condition, so I always feel a bit limited. This is why I chose to go through the surgery again with the hope that this time it will fix it, to hopefully at least get some additional flexibility in what footwear I can wear.
Morton’s neuroma is characterized by pain between a pair of toes, between the “knuckles”, and a painful “click” there in every step. The nerve has been squeezed and has swollen, which is called a neuroma. It’s caused by wearing shoes that aren’t wide enough. It disproportionately more often affects women as they tend to have tighter footwear but of course can affect men too, especially for those that have wide feet. 99% of modern shoes “bunch up” the toes and can cause this.
If you have these symptoms, you should start wearing shoes with wide toe boxes immediately to not make it worse, and also consider wearing toe separators. If it’s still not too bad, this can make the symptoms go away. This helped for me but I never came back to normal. I’m currently recovering from surgery to have this fixed, where they simply cut off this nerve.
Damn, I’m glad you’re out here spreading the good word. I literally wear holes in the sides of my shoes from the outside toes rubbing against the toe box sides. I treasure the rare shoe that I find that doesn’t ruin my day with pinching (because pinching should be enjoyable, goddamnit!), and am pissed off that I never seem to be able to find those shoes again (how many fucking different shoes do we need, and why do they have to change every year, goddamnit!).
I feel your pain there, my favorite shoes have also changed in a way that makes me unable to wear them. Unfortunately it’s generally very hard to find shoes that aren’t shaped to pinch the toes. Look into the following brands:
These brands all offer shoes that have very wide toe boxes but where the rest of the shoe is normal width.
I’ve generally been able to do most activities despite this condition, but there’s always a worry about not finding shoes that work for me. My two pairs of Escalante 2.5 are falling apart, and I’m not sure what to replace them with when they finally break. Also I couldn’t imagine ice skating or skiing with this condition, so I always feel a bit limited. This is why I chose to go through the surgery again with the hope that this time it will fix it, to hopefully at least get some additional flexibility in what footwear I can wear.