Nonoperative Treatment of Plantar Plate Tears

Karan Malani; Madison Ravine; Harry P Schneider

doi:10.1016/j.cpm.2022.02.006

Nonoperative Treatment of Plantar Plate Tears

Clin Podiatr Med Surg. 2022 Jul;39(3):451-459. doi: 10.1016/j.cpm.2022.02.006.

Authors

Karan Malani¹, Madison Ravine¹, Harry P Schneider²

Affiliations

¹ Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street, Department of Surgery, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
² Cambridge Health Alliance, 1493 Cambridge Street, Department of Surgery, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: hschneider@challiance.org.

PMID: 35717062
DOI: 10.1016/j.cpm.2022.02.006

Abstract

The plantar plate is a critical structure involved in stabilizing the metatarsophalangeal joint. Its disruption can not only be painful for the patient but also may lead to subsequent structural deformities. There are several conservative treatment modalities available to help mitigate symptoms including splinting, offloading, and intraarticular injections. That being said, once the pathology progresses to advanced stages, these treatments are not efficacious. Reported success with conservative treatment modalities is limited to case studies and series with a low level of clinical evidence. As such, this represents an area where further investigation is needed to evaluate the true efficacy of conservative treatment and to allow for development of a more standardized approach.

Keywords: Fibrocartilage; Hammertoe; Lesser metatarsophalangeal joint; Plantar plate; Predislocation syndrome.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Humans
Joint Instability* / surgery
Metatarsophalangeal Joint* / diagnostic imaging
Metatarsophalangeal Joint* / surgery
Osteotomy
Plantar Plate* / surgery