Metatarsalgia is a global term to describe forefoot pain. It covers pain occurring at the metatarsal heads, the metatarsophalangeal joints (MPJs), or in the soft tissue in that region and can lead to a variety of diagnoses. In the paper “Metatarsalgia: Diagnosis and Treatment,” Pierce E. Scranton Jr., MD, studied a group of 98 patients who had complaints of pain in the forefoot, and he isolated 23 separate diagnoses!
