u/helpmyhousethx

Hi everyone,

Last late spring, I got what was first diagnosed as "slightly atypical but very likely" sesamoiditis but was later confirmed via imaging as a low grade partial plantar plate tear (turf toe) instead. During the time it was misdiagnosed as sesamoiditis, I consumed basically every post every written here and those tips helped me a lot with plantar plate since they are so similar. Healing was a journey, but it was linear and I had no real setbacks.

For the first 6-8 weeks, I only walked at the house. Picked up groceries, did some mild bike riding on stationary bike. Wore Birkenstock EVAs around the house from week 2. Wore rocker shoes, carbon fiber plates, and did spica/turf toe taping for anytime I left the house. Dancer pads never helped as much (prob because my pain was so far to the fibular sesamoid region and slightly more diffuse). The aggressive stabilization meant I had virtually no pain after week 3 or so, with some mild swelling/heat at night through week 7 or so. By 2-3 months, I was doing some light walking (10-25 mins), by 4 months, I was starting a return to run plan where I jogged for 30 seconds at a time, and this pace felt really conservative. I think I could have been more aggressive, but I felt more comfortable there.

Since mid-Fall, I've been back to full workouts, adding in jumping in the past 2 months (cocky, I know, but it really seemed I was 100% healed and that i dodged a bullet), and walking barefoot almost all the time inside.

Flash forward to two days ago: I feel a similar but also different sensation. The pain is in the same area (far fibular region; almost off the pad of the ball of the big toe but not quite). Except this time, the pain it evokes is different. First time, the pain was a definitive sharp stab that made me limp. This time, it's a much more mild tug/pinch that doesn't necessarily change my gait (except when I overthink it), and I can eliminate or substantially reduce it with Birkenstock EVAs and Hoka Bondi. Yesterday I was able to do a back lunge with no pain, a few heel raises with no pain, then a few seated heel raises with partial weight that caused a very brief 3/10 pinch right at lift off (like in the transition) but that was not painful at the height of the heel raise or on return. Can poke near fibular area and get some diffuse, bruise like pain but it isn't consistent and sometimes pressing it makes it resolve (again, very inconsistent so I don't know what to make of the pressure pain when I can recreateit). No increase in symptoms after all this "testing," but I've decided to stop testing to not anger the bear.

All other things considered, I'd assume this was a re-tear or aggravation of the plantar plate tear. However, the slightly different pain presentation has me concerned it's sesamoiditis. That said, all signs pointed to sesamoiditis the first time, too...

Anyway, how aggressive would ya'll be for the next week or so to see how this does? My worry is too aggressive may make things worse (wearing a post-surgery shoe for only 1.5-2 weeks last time really messed up other parts of my foot and causes issues in the other foot). I'm on Day 3.5 and have been able to eliminate or keep pain to a 0-2 all day using Birkenstock EVAs and a somewhat loose taping the toe down. I even walked out in the grass and no pain.

How immobilized would you get? How much offloading?
How much would you limit movement vs. do pain free movement?

I can go full Hoka + plate + tape, but I don't know how much that would help vs. immobilize unnecessarily.

I want to give this 7-10 days before I go to a doctor because my experience with doctors last time around was really... traumatic. (Lots of dismissiveness)

Dancer Pad Placement - Please SHOW / DESCRIBE to me!