Should a runner have surgery for a plantar plate tear?

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. 

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