Tag Archives: plantar plate

Dealing with a plantar plate tear in the foot

A plantar plate tear is a rather prevalent problem which causes pain underneath the ball of the feet. It is considered the final phase of a stress on the ligament under the joint that advances to a tear if there is no treatment used. The main cause of this condition is simply overuse. In the event that ligament under the joint get used an excessive amount with high activity amounts, it may initially come to be painful after which progress to a tear. The signs and symptoms are usually under and in front of the metatarsal head under the ball of the foot. The symptoms are worsened with larger levels of exercise.

The best way to start treating a plantar plate tear is to apply taping to hold the toe in a plantarflexed position therefore the tension is taken off the ligament which is given a chance to heal. It might be a bit frustrating to keep strapping the foot daily that may take several months to fully get better. For that reason, there are a variety of unique types of braces such as the Fix Toe that you can use. They usually are not quite as beneficial as the taping, but they will be more than effective if taping is used during the early stages. This will likely have to be kept up for a few months to get a good result. Insoles in the shoes with metatarsal pads may also be used to help secure the toe plantarflexed. If weightbearing is uncomfortable, then pads on the insole may be used to maintain weight of the painful place and at least that'll make it comfortable while healing takes place. Usually this can help. Sometimes some anti-inflammatory medicines as well as the use of ice may be required if it gets too painful may be required. When this strategy doesn't work, then surgical treatments needs to be considered to take care of the tear, but a majority of cases of a plantar plate tear do heal on their own.

How to manage a plantar plate tear?

Metatarsalgia is a widely used term which doesn't mean much. The metatarsals include the long bones behind the toes in the feet and the suffix -algia implies pain, so metatarsalgia just means pain in the metatarsals region. That's pretty meaningless as a medical diagnosis on the grounds that the pain is usually because of, literally, 100’s of various things. To use the term metatarsalgia is a lot like using the expression ‘sore knee’. This isn't a diagnosis and is just a non-specific term for symptoms in the ball of the foot. This is very important as getting the diagnosis right is absolutely important and the first step to get the therapy correct. There isn't a treatment for metatarsalgia. There is treatment for the various disorders that cause pain around the metatarsals.

Just about the most frequent cause of pain in this region is a condition known as a plantar plate tear. The plantar plate is a strong ligament beneath the joints in the ball of the foot that give stability to the joint and protect it. If there is too high a level of activity and the toes get retracted or dorsiflexed too much, then that ligament will get stretched resulting is what is referred to as plantar plate dysfunction. In the event that strain carries on then a little tear may develop in the ligament. Another explanation for pain is this region can be what is called sesamoiditis which is some soreness of the tissues around the small sesamoid bones at the base of the great toe. This is often because of an excessive amount of load on those bones, inducing the inflammation. Simply from these two causes of metatarsalgia it should be obvious that they're two completely different issues that could easily get lumped under that pointless phrase, metatarsalgia. The treatment for these two problems are totally different, therefore it should be obvious why that word should really no longer be made use of.