Nonoperative Treatment of Plantar Plate Tears

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.