Dr. Abbie Clinics

Forefoot Pain

Pain in the ball of the foot, including Morton’s neuroma. Often described as standing on a pebble, or burning between the toes.

  • Includes Morton’s neuroma
  • Often footwear related
  • About 45 minutes
  • Nine NSW clinics

Trusted by patients from Sydney to Narrabri

Podiatry NSW/ACT American Academy of Podiatric Sports Medicine (AAPSM) Sports Medicine Australia AHPRA — Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
What you notice

Symptomsand causes

If this sounds like your pain, there is a structural reason for it. The assessment is what finds it.

Common symptoms

  • A feeling of standing on a pebble or a fold in your sock
  • Burning or tingling that runs into the toes
  • Numbness in the toes
  • Relief when you take your shoe off and rub the foot
  • Worse in narrow or firm-soled shoes

What causes it

The forefoot takes the highest pressure of any part of the foot at push-off. Pain there usually means pressure is concentrating where it should be spread — through foot alignment, footwear width, or the way load moves across the ball of the foot.

Diagram of Morton’s neuroma between the metatarsals
Diagram of Morton’s neuroma between the metatarsals
In detail

Understandingforefoot pain

Pain in the ball of the foot falls into two main types. They feel different and have different causes.

Diagram of metatarsalgia, pain across the ball of the foot

Two main types

General, burning

Metatarsalgia

Pain spread across the ball of the foot. As a rolled-in foot lengthens, it creates shearing forces on the long bones’ heads and loses the arch across the forefoot.

Localised, nerve

Morton’s neuroma

A swelling of the nerve that runs between the metatarsals, the long bones of the foot — usually between the 2nd/3rd or 3rd/4th toes.

How a neuroma changes over time

It starts as localised pain, then numbness, tingling or pins and needles into the toes. Over time the body forms scar tissue around the nerve to protect it.

Why it needs a proper look

A cyst between the toes, bursitis or a torn plantar plate can feel similar. Telling them apart is part of the assessment.

What a plan can include

Orthotics with a metatarsal dome, which supports the arch across the forefoot, dry needling, foot mobilisation and massage.

How we diagnose it

The cause,not the sore spot

Forefoot Pain is diagnosed with the Najjarine Biomechanical Assessment, so treatment is prescribed against a finding rather than a symptom.

Dr Abbie Najjarine assessing a patient’s gait on a treadmill
01

Assess

We assess where pressure is concentrating across the forefoot as you walk.

02

Diagnose

We work out whether the problem is mechanical, footwear, or both, and explain what we found.

03

Treat

Treatment is aimed at redistributing that pressure rather than only settling the symptom.

Dr Abbie Najjarine demonstrating a lower limb assessment, with alignment marked on the leg and practitioners observing
Start here

Book an assessment

Find out what is actually causing your forefoot pain.

Patient feedback

What patients sayabout forefoot pain

Google 4.9 Based on 286 Google reviews across our clinics
Fiona McK. Dr. Abbie Clinics · 3 weeks ago Google

The pebble feeling is exactly how I described it and they knew straight away what I meant.

Raj P. Dr. Abbie Clinics · 1 month ago Google

Wider shoes plus an orthotic. Simple once someone actually looked.

Yvonne C. Dr. Abbie Clinics · 2 months ago Google

Explained what the neuroma was rather than just giving it a name.

Questions

Forefoot Painquestions

A thickening of tissue around a nerve between the metatarsals, which is why the pain often burns or runs into the toes rather than staying in one spot.

Footwear is often part of it, particularly width. Bring the shoes you wear most to your appointment.

Most forefoot pain is managed without it. That conversation only arises if conservative treatment has not worked.

That depends on what is driving the pressure. You will get a realistic timeframe at the assessment.

No. You can book directly.

Treating lower limb pain since 1990

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Choose your clinic and book straight into its diary, or call and we will point you to the right practitioner.