How to manage a plantar plate tear?

A plantar plate tear is a minor tear or sprain to the ligament which is underneath the smaller toe joints in the foot. It is almost always associated with too much use, particularly in exercises that need the toes to be bent up or dorsiflexed. The pain is often just above the area distal to the joint at the base of the foot. Because this issue is because of the toe bending to much backwards or upwards (dorsiflexing) when walking, taping is a good way to minimize that motion.

An effective way for taping a plantar plate tear would be to loop some strapping about the toe to tug the toe downwards in a plantarflexed placement. The ends of the tape go below the front foot and by looping across the toe it may keep it straight down. The reasoning being is that whenever we walk, and the rearfoot comes up off the ground and the toe flexes there's less stress on the plantar plate since the toe is stopped from bending back. That way the plantar plate tear taping could actually help the injury heal. This can easily require adequate time but is generally effective. Other approaches could be used to help prevent the dorsiflexion through the joint that is hurt, such as with a more inflexible sole shoe which is not flexible as this will prevent too much movement at the joints. There's also stiff plates which can be used as shoe inserts to make the shoe more rigid. A foot support insert that has a cavity over the uncomfortable area could also be used for getting load off the sore location may also make it more comfortable to walk on. These types of strategies are likely to be rather useful, especially that strapping. Nonetheless, as we still need to walk around on the foot rather than get total rest, it will take many months of this method to get a result. It sometimes will not necessarily work out like that or the problem is particularly distressing. In those instances, surgery to correct the tear may be recommended.