Morton’s neuroma and MBT shoes
Morton’s neuroma is a painful condition that affects the ball of your foot, most commonly the area between your third and fourth toes. Morton’s neuroma may feel as if you are standing on a pebble in your shoe or on a fold in your sock. For me, it manifests as a shooting pain when I walk.
Around 2007, I found Sketchers Shape Ups. They were marketed badly and were sued because of false claims, but wearing those shoes led me to a company called MBT, which made similar style of rocker shoes.
In 2007 I had been walking to and from work for 12 years and I guess that combined with my relatively flat feet caused the condition I still live with today.
The Sketches and MBTs literally allowed me to continue walking. They were a life saver.
Today, Sketchers no longer sells a rocker shoe and MBT is in a death spiral. My only proof of MBT’s death spiral is circumstantial, but numerous:
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I’ve been trying to purchase EE width shoes from their website for more than a year. I’ve called their sales team numerous times. I’ve emailed them. They keep telling me “they are coming” yet they are never in stock.
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Footwear Etc, a long-time distributor of MBT shoes stopped carrying them more than a year ago because they could not get inventory.
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MBT’s own website lists places where you can get their shoes, but those businesses do not stock them (e.g. Footprint in SF).
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MBT’s website is falling apart. The “FIND A STORE” page no longer works. I could not even input an address or zip code without a popup “This page can’t load Google Maps correctly. Do you own this website?”
When I saw a podiatrist at my health care provider, I was fitted with a metatarsal pad, which only caused pain and I had to remove once I left the doctor’s office. The []American Podiatric Medical Association](https://www.apma.org/Patients/Company.cfm?ItemNumber=22691) lists MBT as a solution, in a very large list of companies.
I’ve tried Hoka and Brooks shoes, as suggested by my physical therapist and neither shoe provided any relief.
MBT shoes appear to be the last remaining solution to a common foot problem, yet no one seems to care they are slipping into oblivion.