Conditions
Nerve conditions of the foot, ankle and leg
Plain-language guides to the nerve problems we evaluate — what they are, how they’re diagnosed, and the full range of treatment options.
Understanding nerve problems
Four broad kinds of nerve problem
A pinched or trapped nerve
One nerve is compressed or stretched at a specific point — for example at the inner ankle, between the toes or at the outer knee. Symptoms follow that nerve’s territory.
An injured nerve
A nerve stretched, scarred or cut during an injury or an operation, sometimes forming a painful neuroma.
Nerve damage throughout the feet
Many nerves are affected at once, usually starting in both feet. Diabetes is the most common cause, but there are many others.
A problem higher up
Weakness or pain that starts in the lower back, the hip or the central nervous system, and shows up in the leg or foot.
Condition guides
Pinched or trapped nerves
A nerve squeezed at one point, with symptoms that follow its territory.
Condition
Tarsal tunnel syndrome
Pressure on the tibial nerve at the inner ankle, causing burning, tingling or numbness in the sole.
Condition
Morton’s neuroma
Burning, sharp or numb sensations in the ball of the foot, often between the third and fourth toes.
Condition
Baxter’s nerve entrapment
Irritation of a small nerve near the heel that can cause heel pain resembling plantar fasciitis.
Condition
Anterior tarsal tunnel
Compression of the deep peroneal nerve at the front of the ankle, causing pain or numbness on the top of the foot.
Condition
Superficial peroneal nerve
Burning, tingling or numbness on the top of the foot and outer lower leg from a compressed superficial peroneal nerve.
Condition
Peroneal nerve compression
Pressure on the peroneal nerve at the outer knee, causing numbness on the outer leg and top of the foot and weak foot lift.
Condition
Other nerve entrapments
Compression or irritation of the nerves that supply the top, sides and sole of the foot.
Condition
Nerve compression overview
An overview of nerves that can be squeezed in the leg and foot, and how compression neuropathies are found and treated.
Injured nerves and neuromas
A nerve cut, stretched or scarred by an injury or an operation.
Condition
After surgery or injury
Burning, shooting or electric pain that begins after an injury or an operation on the foot or ankle.
Condition
Nerve laceration
Numbness, burning pain or weakness after a cut through a nerve in the leg, ankle or foot, and how a cut nerve is repaired.
Condition
Painful neuroma
A tender knot of nerve tissue at an injured nerve end, causing burning or shooting pain after injury or surgery.
Condition
Painful scars
Burning, shocking or hypersensitive pain in a scar, caused by a nerve injured or tethered by scar tissue.
Condition
After knee replacement
Burning or electric knee pain after a knee replacement, often from a neuroma of a small skin nerve at the front of the knee.
Pain after leg amputation
Phantom limb pain, residual limb pain and neuromas at a cut nerve end.
Condition
After leg amputation
Phantom limb pain and residual limb pain after leg amputation, and how neuromas and nerve surgery fit in.
Condition
Phantom limb pain
Pain that seems to come from an amputated foot or leg, and the treatments that have been studied.
Condition
Residual limb neuroma
Sharp, burning or tender pain at the end of a residual limb, often from a neuroma at a cut nerve end.
Weakness, the back and body-wide causes
Problems that start higher up or affect many nerves at once.
Condition
Foot drop
Weakness lifting the front of the foot, from a pinched nerve in the back or a compressed peroneal nerve near the knee.
Condition
Sciatica
Pain along the sciatic nerve, from the lower back, from a trapped nerve in the buttock, or from a nerve injury.
Condition
Neuropathy evaluation
Evaluation of numbness, tingling or burning in both feet, with protective foot care and coordinated testing.
Condition
Leg spasticity
Stiff, tight leg and foot muscles from brain or spinal cord injury, and options from bracing to selective tibial neurotomy.
Symptom guides
Start with what you feel, such as numbness, tingling or burning, and see what it can mean and when to get help.
Symptom guide
Numbness, tingling & burning
A guide to nerve-type symptoms in the feet: what the patterns can suggest and when to seek care.
Symptom guide
Burning feet
Burning in the feet can come from neuropathy, a pinched nerve, the lower back or circulation. Common patterns and when to get help.
Symptom guide
Numb toes
Which toes are numb, and whether it is one foot or both, points to the cause. Patterns, everyday causes and when to seek care.
Diagnosis guides
How the source of nerve pain is found, and what testing can and can’t show.
Diagnosis guide
Back or foot?
How to tell whether foot pain, numbness or tingling comes from the lower back or from a nerve in the foot.
Diagnosis guide
Nerve testing
The examination, nerve conduction studies, EMG, ultrasound and MRI: what each shows and where each falls short.
Where you feel it matters
Nerve territories of the foot
- Medial plantar nerve — inner two-thirds of the sole and the first three-and-a-half toes
- Lateral plantar nerve — outer third of the sole and the fifth and half of the fourth toe
- Calcaneal branches — the heel pad
- Sural nerve — the outer border of the foot and heel
- Superficial peroneal (fibular) nerve — most of the top of the foot
- Deep peroneal (fibular) nerve — the web space between the big and second toes
- Saphenous nerve — the inner border of the foot near the ankle
Looking for general foot and ankle care — bunions, sports injuries or fractures? Visit Ozturk Foot & Ankle, or the Limb Salvage Institute for wounds that won’t heal. Not sure where to start? Request an appointment.
Appointments
Talk with us about your symptoms
An evaluation can clarify what’s causing your symptoms and what your options are — starting with non-surgical care whenever that’s appropriate.