Eight-time All-Star Mike Trout will be sidelined for the rest of the season after it was revealed that he would need surgery to correct Morton’s neuroma in his right foot.
“I kind of knew when I first got my MRI a few weeks ago that I would probably need surgery at the end of the year to get it removed,” Trout said Sunday. “Just got worse. We tried everything. The training staff has been awesome. Some days it would feel good. Some days, once the thing cleared up, it was tough to walk. It just didn’t get better. It’s been that way for a couple weeks. We tried injections, tried the cryoablation (cold fluid) — thought that would help. As soon as I went out there and started running, it flares up. After it clears up, in about 30-40 minutes it’s tough to walk on.”
The Angels won’t be making a playoff run this season, but the loss of their best player won’t make things easier as the season winds down. Trout finishes the 2019 season with 45 home runs, 104 RBI and a batting average just south of .300. It was his first season after signing a 12-year, $426.5 million contact with the Angels during the offseason.
Morton’s Neuroma and Trout’s Future
Dr. Silverman breaks down the injury and Mike Trout’s rehab:
It’s unfortunate that Mike Trout is so disabled by a Morton’s neuroma. For those of you who don’t know what that condition is, it is a thickening of the nerve and the tissue around the nerve as it courses underneath a ligament that connects the metatarsal bones. It is a relatively common condition, and it usually isn’t this disabling, but then again, most people don’t need to go play professional baseball with Morton’s neuroma every day.
The condition is also commonly misdiagnosed. Other conditions that often masquerade as Morton’s neuroma are injuries to the lesser metatarsophalangeal joints and the ligaments that surround them. This can present challenges during the diagnostic stage, but it sounds like Trout has undergone a thorough evaluation and tried his hand at numerous conservative care techniques. The next logical step is a minimally invasive surgery.
The only issue he’ll need to be aware of is that you need to wait approximately four weeks post-op before putting weight on your foot to give the ligaments that you cut in order to treat the neuroma enough time to heal. That said, the surgery has a relatively high success rate when properly diagnosed and treated. He should be back to full health well in advance of spring training next year. Best of luck for a rapid recovery for this generational talent.
