If you are a runner with a painful tendon or ligament issue like chronic plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis or plantar plate sprain that just won’t get better, you might have done some research into injections and found a thing called a PRP or “platelet-rich plasma injection.”
The way that PRP injections are marketed by some doctors, you might think that it’s mostly unicorns and fairy dust, but there is some actual science behind platelet-rich plasma. and the effect that it can have on these tendons and ligaments that aren’t healing very well.
Corticosteroid injections have also been around for a much longer time.
Both types of injections can be used as treatments for tendon and ligament sprains in runners.
The question is whether or not there is any real scientific evidence to support Platelet Rich Plasma injection or Corticosteroid injections for chronic tendon or ligament injuries. Is one injection any better than the other?
PRP science explained. Is there a difference between PRP injections, corticosteroid injections, and placebo?
That’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »If you get a plantar plate sprain, the first thing you may notice is pain and irritation at the ball of the foot, right where the second toe attaches to the foot. If the foot feels swollen, puffy or sore in that spot, it could be a plantar plate sprain.
A one common injection performed for plantar plate ligament sprains is a corticosteroid injection.
I just spoke with a runner who thought the doctor did the injection in the wrong part of the foot.
She saw a podiatrist, and the doctor did a corticosteroid injection for the plantar plate sprain. She was confused afterward and asked me if the doctor did the injection with the right or wrong technique. I’ll explain why she was confused.
I think my doctor did the wrong injection for the plantar plate ligament.
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.
View Details »I recently got a great question from a runner who was calling me for a second opinion during a telemedicine visit.
She wanted to run but had a partial rupture in the plantar fascia.
When we were talking about her history, she told me that she had had a couple of corticosteroid injections (or cortisone) injections for the plantar fascia when she had plantar fasciitis.
Is a cortisone injection malpractice if it causes a plantar fascia rupture in a runner? Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc on the Run podcast.
View Details »This episode actually comes from one of the live Q&As I did with course members who are actually enrolled in courses like the Plantar Plate Sprain Course for Runners or the Metatarsal Stress Fracture Course.
“One of my friends said that I could get an injection to help my planter plates sprain heal faster. What is that injection?”
Today on the Doc on the Run podcast, we’re talking about what kind of injections might help a plantar plate injury.
View Details »I got a question during a telemedicine second opinion consultation with a runner over webcam.
He was worried that he had some fat pad atrophy in his foot and was getting heel pain as a consequence of that.
The fat pad atrophying in itself does not cause pain, but since the plantar calcaneal fat pad that cushions your skin under the heel bone really does prevent the skin from getting squished. Well, yes, you can definitely get pain if your fat pad gets atrophied.
Does calcaneal fat pad atrophy cause pain when running?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.