If you have a pain in the ball of the foot, underneath the base of the toes, that is right where your fat pad cushioning is located. 

There is a lot of misunderstanding about what fat pad atrophy really is, particularly when it is related to something like a plantar plate injury.

Sometimes runners have true fat pad atrophy, but that is rare. 

More often runners have fat pad displacement that feels like atrophy. 

I think that fat pad displacement is more common than atrophy, and I am going to try to explain why. 

What is the difference between fat pad atrophy and fat pad displacement in runners? 

Well, that is what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.