Plantar plate tears part 3

Plantar plate tears part 3. In our last post on Plantar plate tears I discussed the importance of how to diagnose the issue. As I mentioned many times one has a plantar plate tear but they are getting it treated as a neuroma (improperly). In this post I will tell you about the treatment options and how you can get all better.

MRI showing Plantar plate tear

Depending on the MRI results and the pain you are having there are different routes to take. Some cases the patient will do fine with a custom orthotic with special built in adjustments that address the plantar plate tear. This method does work for many patients. Along with that sometimes and injection and being off your foot for a little can make a difference.

Plantar plate repair system

Then there are situations where your foot does not get better through conservative non surgical approaches. I have had the opportunity to successfully perform hundreds of surgeries on plantar plate tears using the Arthrex complete plantar plate repair system.

The system entails exposing the capsule and then the plantar plate. Once that is performed the plantar plate is then sutured and reatached to the base of the small toe were it was originally torn off of. This process involves cutting the second metatarsal bone in a weil osteotomy technique.

One can see below pictures from one of my surgeries the exposure of the torn plate and the suturing with re attachment. This surgery has a quick recovery of being off your foot for 2-3 weeks and immediate physical therapy to get the toe moving.