Most of the runners I see who have pain in the ball of the foot from a plantar plate sprain rarely start out with a completely torn plantar plate tear. 

More often, runners ignore the pain from the plantar plate sprain and it evolves into a full thickness plantar plate tear. 

Surgery is only needed when the plantar plate is torn in such a way that the plantar plate ligament cannot be expected to heal without surgery. 

But there are some mistakes that could lead a runner to the operating room.

Plantar plate surgery is a failure to act quickly. 

That's what we're talking about today on the Doc On The Run Podcast.