Cortisone Helps the Pain from a Neuroma But Not the Numbness: Email Response

I had a cortisone injection a month ago in my neuroma and am super happy that the pain is gone and I can walk several miles in my wide toes shoes with arch supports in :) however I still have toe numbness which I thought meant that the neuroma wasn't quite better since that was my early symptom, before I realized there was an issue with my foot -- the Dr.'s office told me this is normal and additional injections would only cause more numbness -- I would like to understand why this is and they were unable to explain it in a way that made sense to me. thanks

Dr Blake's response: 

Thank you so much for the question. Any abnormal pressure on the nerve from the bones and swelling can cause numbness, pain, or a combo. In your case, the pressure of walking, and maybe some other cause of nerve tension (low back) is causing the numbness, with the pain from the swelling pushing against the nerve. All the cortisone did was to shrink down the swelling, so we know that caused the pain. But, the pressure against the nerve is still there, thus the numbness remains. Hope this helps. Part of your treatment should be metatarsal supports behind the nerve to take some pressure off the nerve, a look at the low back or other sources of nerve irritation, an understanding of what stresses out the sciatic nerve and how to avoid it, and perhaps the numbness will slowly get better. Rich