If you have a pain in the ball of the foot, underneath the base of the toes, that is right where your fat pad cushioning is located.
There is a lot of misunderstanding about what fat pad atrophy really is, particularly when it is related to something like a plantar plate injury.
Sometimes runners have true fat pad atrophy, but that is rare.
More often runners have fat pad displacement that feels like atrophy.
I think that fat pad displacement is more common than atrophy, and I am going to try to explain why.
What is the difference between fat pad atrophy and fat pad displacement in runners?
Well, that is what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »Let me ask you to read 4 words and see how they land on you.
Skinny, weak, atrophy, neglect.
As a runner, would you want any of those words used to describe you?
When the fat pad cushion between the bones and the skin under the heel or the ball of the foot gets thinner, doctors call it “atrophy.” But don’t take it as an insult.
What really causes more atrophy of the fat pad cushion under the ball the foot in runners…inactivity, or too much activity?
Well, that’s what we are talking about today on the Doc On the Run Podcast!
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.