I just got a great question from a runner who had been using a thing called a dancer’s pad.
A dancer’s pad is sometimes used to help an injury to these little bones under the big toe joint called the “sesamoid bones.”
If one of the sesamoids is painful and irritated and you’re trying to take the pressure off of it, an easy way to do that is to place a dancer’s pad in your shoe.
How can a dancer’s pad lead to a plantar plate sprain?
Well, that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.
View Details »If you are a runner with a plantar plate injury, it is pretty easy for a doctor to make a convincing sales pitch on surgery. There are a couple of reasons that you should consider surgery for a plantar plate sprain. The first reason surgery makes sense is you tried everything else and nothing non-surgical will work. But you have to be honest about your non-surgical attempts. Here are some examples I often hear from injured runners.” I used the fracture boot a little bit, but had to take it off to drive. “I “sort of taped the toe.” I used some pads, “but I’m not sure if they are in the right spot. “You have to be honest with yourself about those treatments before you can say that you failed those treatments. that. But when you have clearly failed all of the non-surgical treatments and you cannot get better, then and only then does surgery makes sense. Should a runner have surgery for a plantar plate injury? That’s a great question and that’s what we’re talking about today on the Doc On The Run podcast.
View Details »Every time I do a second opinion consultation with a runner who has a plantar plate injury, I hate to tell you this, but I hear the same story over and over and over. Basically they call me and they say, “Well, I have a plantar plate sprain. I know I have a plantar plate sprain. I went through the plantar plate sprain course and I’ve been doing some of those things to actually try to get it better and it’s starting to improve, but I was misdiagnosed with another condition.” And we’re going to talk about why runners get misdiagnosed so frequently when they have plantar plate injuries and why it can be difficult to figure out whether or not that’s actually a problem in the first place. Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about why plantar plate injuries get misdiagnosed so frequently in runners.
View Details »I had a really great question from a patient on a second opinion webcam visit.
“I have a partially torn plantar fascia. Can I keep running and let it heal later?”
He had purchased The Runner’s Heel Pain course and based on his self-diagnosis, he concluded that he definitely did not just have plantar fasciitis. It was more likely plantar fasciosis with a small tear in the plantar fascia.
Unfortunately, the treatment that we would normally do and normally recommend for somebody with a partial tear in the plantar fascia, well, he just cannot do right now. He does not have time to actually take off of his activity and stop running completely right now.
Today on the Doc On the Run podcast, we’re talking about Torn Plantar Fascia: If I run can it heal it later?
View Details »I was just doing a telemedicine visit for a second opinion with a runner who’s had a longstanding plantar plate sprain. These can be very frustrating injuries because if you don’t treat them appropriately or you ramp up your activity too early, well, it can recur and they can go on for a really long time.
It had been a long time since he’s running, he needed a second opinion, he wanted to know whether or not the PRP injection, or a stem cell injection, or dry needling, or some other procedure might actually help him.
I’ve had one myself I was very cautious about reducing the stress and strain to the plantar plate ligament while I continued to maintain my running fitness as I recovered from that injury.
Today on the Doc On The Run Podcast, we’re talking about whether or not you might need crutches after a PRP injection for a plantar plate injury.