Runner with stress fracture but doctor found plantar plate fraying on MRI

I just got off a telemedicine second opinion call with a runner who thought she had a stress fracture. She got an MRI. Then her doctor said she has “fraying” of several plantar plate ligaments. She wanted to know if this was serious.

Part of the difficulty lies in determining the severity of plantar plate injury and making the call on when you can run. Most runners want a clear answer. Often times an MRI is performed in the hopes of getting a clear picture of the plantar plate damage. 

Sometimes the MRI report not only suggests damaged to the plantar plate that hurts, but may mention “fraying” of other plantar plate ligaments that don’t hurt at all.

This often creates even more confusion and more frustration in recovering runners.