Morton’s Neuroma Treatment, Brighton
If you’ve been told you have Morton’s neuroma, you’ll know the feeling. A burning, shooting pain or a strange electrical zing between your toes — often between the third and fourth — that shows up when you walk, run, or simply stand for too long. Some people describe it as feeling like they’re standing on a pebble that isn’t there. Others feel numbness, tingling, or a sensation that something is bunched up inside the ball of their foot.
It’s uncomfortable. It can be frustrating. And if you’ve been told the only options are injections or surgery, it can feel like there’s no good way forward. There is.
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What’s Actually Going On..
Morton’s neuroma is an irritation of the nerve that runs between the metatarsal bones in the forefoot. When the tissue around that nerve becomes tight and compressed, the nerve gets unhappy and it lets you know about it! But here’s what most people aren’t told: the compression doesn’t happen in isolation. There’s usually a trifecta driving it. Poor foot intrinsic strength, poor hip stability, and footwear that’s been squashing the forefoot for years.
When all three are present, the way you load your foot changes. The inside of the foot takes the weight too early, the little toes get squeezed together and a nerve that’s already sitting in tight tissue gets compressed with every single step.
Restrictions can also develop on the outside of the foot so when the lateral foot loses mobility the tissue tightens, that tighter tissue can become part of what’s compressing the nerve. Often what looks like a localised foot problem is often a whole-system loading problem that happens to show up between the toes.
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How I Approach It..
I work with Gary Ward’s AIM method — Anatomy in Motion — which is built around one central idea: find what’s missing in the movement system and put it back. For Morton’s neuroma, that means three things.
First, we look at how you’re loading your foot. Where the weight is going. Whether you’re dropping into the medial forefoot too soon. Whether you’re getting even distribution across the whole forefoot when you stand and walk. This matters not just when you’re moving, but when you’re standing still — something as simple as how you’re standing in the shower can be aggravating the nerve dozens of times a day without you realising it.
Second, we look at the hip. The gluteus maximus (your bottom) is most active at heel strike and acts as the primary controller of rotation through the leg. When it isn’t doing its job properly, that rotation has to go somewhere — and it often ends up overloading the forefoot. Addressing hip stability and eccentric glute control is a key part of restoring healthy foot mechanics.
Third, we work on foot mobility and intrinsic strength — getting the foot to feel more balanced, more grounded, and more capable of doing what it’s designed to do. Introducing exercises to mobilise the outside of your foot, looking at weight distribution and building the strength that allows the whole system to load as it should rather than the forefoot bearing a lot of the load.
We also look at your footwear. A wide toe box shoe is non-negotiable — giving the toes space to splay and the forefoot room to breathe can make an immediate difference while the deeper work begins to take effect.
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What a Session Looks Like
Sessions are practical and hands-on. We’ll look at how you move, how you load, and where the restrictions are. You’ll leave with a clear understanding of what’s driving your symptoms — and a specific exercise programme, fully videoed, that takes around 20 minutes a day to complete at home. No gym required.
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Who Is This For?
This approach works well for runners and active people whose Morton’s neuroma is being aggravated by training load and footwear. It’s also well suited to people who spend long hours on their feet, those who’ve had injections that haven’t been successful, and people who’ve been told surgery is the next step and want to explore a conservative approach first.
If you’ve already had surgery and the symptoms have returned or haven’t fully resolved, a whole-body movement assessment can still be valuable — because the loading pattern that created the problem in the first place may still be there.
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Based in Brighton
I work with clients in Brighton and across the surrounding area. If you’re living with the daily discomfort of Morton’s neuroma and want to understand what’s actually driving it — not just manage the pain — a Missing Piece Assessment is the place to start.
Book your Missing Piece Assessment today and find out what your foot has been trying to tell you.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Can Morton’s neuroma be treated without surgery?​
In many cases, yes. Surgery is often presented as the next step when injections haven’t worked, but it isn’t always necessary. In my experience, Morton’s neuroma is frequently a loading problem — the nerve is being compressed because of the way the foot is moving and the way load is being distributed through it. When we address those patterns, restore the movement that’s missing, and build the right strength, the nerve has less to be unhappy about. I’ve worked with clients who had been told surgery was their only option and have been able to resolve their symptoms through this approach. It’s always worth exploring a conservative route first before committing to anything more invasive.
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Why does my Morton’s neuroma keep coming back even after treatment?​
This is really common — and it usually means the underlying loading pattern hasn’t been fully addressed. If you’ve had injections, or been given stretches and exercises for the foot, but nobody has looked at how you’re loading your forefoot, how your hip is controlling rotation through the leg, or what your footwear is doing over the course of a full day, the nerve is going to keep getting irritated. The symptoms settle, you go back to your normal routine, and the same pattern recreates the same problem. That’s why I work with the whole system rather than just the area that’s painful — because that’s the only way to get results that actually hold.
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I’ve been told my footwear is fine — could it still be contributing?
Possibly. Even shoes that feel comfortable can be part of the problem if the toe box is too narrow and the forefoot doesn’t have enough room to splay. The toes need space to spread and the forefoot needs room to function naturally — and many everyday shoes, including ones that look perfectly reasonable, don’t provide that. I trained with Gait Happens, who are leaders in foot health and footwear education, and footwear assessment is always part of the work I do. You’ll receive specific guidance on what to look for and what to avoid — and sometimes a simple change of shoe makes an immediate and noticeable difference.
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How long does it take to see results?
It varies depending on how long the symptoms have been there, what’s been tried before, and how consistently the exercises are done. But the body responds well when you give it the right input — often more quickly than people expect. Most people start to notice a change within the first few sessions. The exercises take around 20 minutes a day, everything is fully videoed so you always know exactly what to do, and you don’t need a gym or any specialist equipment. Consistency is what creates the change.
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Is this suitable for me if I’m a runner?
Yes. Runners are one of the groups I see most commonly with Morton’s neuroma, because training load combined with footwear that compresses the forefoot is a very common driver of the condition. We look at how you’re loading through each stride when you run, where the forefoot is taking excess force, and how to restore the mechanics that allow you to keep running without the nerve being aggravated. The goal isn’t to stop you training — it’s to help you train in a way that isn’t constantly irritating the problem.