A neuroma in the ball of the foot is an inflammation of a nerve in the ball of the foot. The nerve is not visible on an X-ray since it does not focus on the soft tissue. X-rays are useful for imaging bone, but they don’t help with Morton’s neuroma diagnosis. Nonetheless, your podiatrist in Houston will certainly request an X-ray to rule out other problems, such as a stress fracture.
When imaging soft tissue structures like neuromas, an MRI is quite helpful. If the clinical evidence for a neuroma is overwhelming, an MRI is not usually required. In reality, an MRI for Morton’s neuroma can produce a false negative, meaning it will not detect one even if one is present. It can occur when the neuroma is caught between the MRI’s “slices.”
