Orthotics Compared to Conventional Therapy and Other Non-Surgical Treatments for Plantar Fasciitis

by MASS4D® Prescription Orthotics October 25, 2016

Uden et al. in 2011 compared six randomised control trials (RCTs) to assess the effectiveness and safety of custom foot orthoses (CFO) and corticosteroid injections (CSI) for the treatment of adults with known plantar fasciitis.

The 3-arm RCT conducted by Roos et al., concluded that use of anterior night splints and foot orthotics were both effective in providing short term pain relief and improved foot function.

Landorf et al. conducted another 3-arm RCT, randomly assigning 136 participants to receive prefabricated foot orthotics, CFOs, or a placebo “sham” orthotic.

At 3 months, this study showed that both prefabricated orthotics and CFOs provided a significant improvement in function.

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Results of the 2-arm RCT by Baldassin et al., demonstrated that the use of low-cost prefabricated orthotics in the treatment of plantar fasciitis had similar and significant outcomes in improving function and providing pain relief compared to more expensive CFOs.

Porter and Shadbolt randomised 125 participants into three groups: CSI with stretching of the gastrocnemius, soleus and plantar fascia, electrohydraulic shock wave therapy (ESWT) with stretching, and stretching alone.

Significant reduction in pain was reported at 12 months compared to stretching alone.

In the CSI study conducted by Lee and Ahmad, 64 patients were randomised to receive either an autologous blood intralesional injection (ABII) or CSI treatment.

The CSI group showed significant pain reduction compared to the ABII group at 3 months.

Dimou et al. assigned 20 participants to wear a CFO for 8 weeks or receive a total of 9 chiropractic manipulation treatments of the foot and ankle.

Both groups reported pain reduction, although chiropractic manipulation was found to be significantly superior to CFOs for pain relief.

The review conducted by Brantingham et al. in 2011 concluded that chiropractic manipulative therapy is effective for short term relief.

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References:

1. Rebecca D. Lewis, Paul Wright, Laine H. McCarthy (2015) Orthotics Compared to Conventional Therapy and Other Non-Surgical Treatments for Plantar Fasciitis. J. Okla. State Med. Assoc.: December 2015, 108(12): 596–598.

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