Oooo!! I really want to the know the answer (if it's knowable) to this question. I had sesamoiditis for a couple of years (most before my back pain, but overlapping some). I had PT and surgery. It didn't work. I had pads in my shoe. I BROKE another bone trying to heal the sesamoid. (Ok, so I might have that obsessive personality I've read about.) As I was reading Healing Back Pain, I really started to wonder about the sesamoiditis. If it's any comfort, even though surgery didn't help, time did. I occasionally have a teeny bit of soreness, but it usually calms down in a day or less.