PLANTAR FASCIITIS
Plantar fasciitis refers to the pain in the plantar surface of the heel. It leads to intense pain and soreness of the sole of the foot. The pain sometimes extends to the medial arch. The severity of the pain may affect the quality of life (QoL) of the patient up to a great extent (Landorf, 2015). It is one of the commonest chronic processes of degeneration occurring in the medial plantar fascia (Thompson, Saini, Reb & Daniel, 2014).Almost 10% of the total population of the world is suffering from Plantar Fasciitis (Melvin et al., 2015). One out of every ten individuals develops plantar fasciitis at least once in their lifetime. It is commoner among the females in their middle age especially who are obese, and also among the male athletes. The people belonging to the athletic field have very high tendency to develop the condition, but may not require any form of treatment (Tahrerian, Motififard, Tahmasebi & Siavashi, 2012).
As far as treatment of plantar fasciitis is concerned, different therapies are suggested. One of the commonly used treatment procedure is low dye taping on the paretic side of the patients with the disease condition. It has proved to be highly effective in treating the patients of plantar fasciitis (Park, Lee, Kim & Hwangbo, 2015). The treatment is useful for reducing the pain and also for the enhancement of stability (Park et al., 2015).
Another effective form of treatment of plantar fasciitis is application of extracorporeal shock wave therapy. This therapy helps in the reduction of tension in the plantar fascia of the feet. The therapy has been tested and its effects were observed in the patients of stroke suffering from plantar fasciitis simultaneously (Kim, Bae, Kim & Kim, 2015).
The conventional methods of treatment with the application of physical therapy have also proved to be equally effective in many cases. Contrary to the beliefs, that these methods of treatment would not have much impact on the obese, they were found to be highly beneficial. A study proved that neither age nor Body Mass Index (BMI) is associated the impact of physical therapy on the patient of plantar fasciitis (McClinton, Cleland & Flynn, 2014).
Surgical intervention includes plantar fasciotomy for the purpose of relieving the tension developed in chronic plantar fasciitis (Borrelli, 2011). In the cases of chronic Plantar fasciitis, the use of Platelet Rich Plasma (PRP) is considered to be more useful than the tradition methods of cortisone injection (Monto, 2014). The duration of the disease was observed to vary between two to six months among patients who were treated with oral analgesics or NSAIDs. Heel inserts are also known to show their effects within six months of being inserted (Cutts, Obi, Pasapula & Chan, 2012).
Therefore the average duration for recovery can be estimated to be six months. Most of the patients recover from the condition without any medical, surgical or physical intervention. Medical interventions may include use of NSAIDs, oral analgesics, corticosteroids or platelet rich plasma. On the other hand, surgical intervention would include plantar fasciotomy and physical therapy includes stretching exercises mainly (Orchard, 2012).
Use of a temporary custom foot orthosis along with stretching exercises has proved to be highly effective in the short term for the patients suffering from plantar fascia. The effects lasted for about 12 weeks time period (Drake, Bittenbender & Boyles, 2011).
References
Borrelli, A. (2011). Percutaneous Plantar Fasciotomy for the Surgical Treatment of Refractive Plantar Fasciitis. Techniques In Foot & Ankle Surgery, 10(2), 49-55. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/btf.0b013e31821a2a14
Cutts, S., Obi, N., Pasapula, C., & Chan, W. (2012). Plantar fasciitis. The Annals Of The Royal College Of Surgeons Of England, 94(8), 539-542. http://dx.doi.org/10.1308/003588412x13171221592456
Drake, M., Bittenbender, C., & Boyles, R. (2011). The Short-Term Effects of Treating Plantar Fasciitis With a Temporary Custom Foot Orthosis and Stretching. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther, 41(4), 221-231. http://dx.doi.org/10.2519/jospt.2011.3348
Kim, T., Bae, S., Kim, G., & Kim, K. (2015). The effects of extracorporeal shock wave therapy on stroke patients with plantar fasciitis. J Phys Ther Sci, 27(2), 523-526. http://dx.doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.523
Landorf, K. (2015). Plantar heel pain and plantar fasciitis. BMJ Clinical Evidence.
McClinton, S., Cleland, J., & Flynn, T. (2014). Predictors of Response to Physical Therapy Intervention for Plantar Heel Pain. Foot & Ankle International, 36(4), 408-416. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1071100714558508
Melvin, T., Tankersley, Z., Qazi, Z., Jasko, J., Odono, R., & Shuler, F. (2015). Primary Care Management of Plantar Fasciitis. W V Medical Journal, 111(6), 28-32.
Monto, R. (2014). Platelet-Rich Plasma Efficacy Versus Corticosteroid Injection Treatment for Chronic Severe Plantar Fasciitis. Foot & Ankle International, 35(4), 313-318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1071100713519778
Orchard, J. (2012). Plantar fasciitis. BMJ, 345(oct10 1), e6603-e6603. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/bmj.e6603
Park, C., Lee, S., Kim, S., & Hwangbo, G. (2015). The effects of the application of low-dye taping on paretic side plantar pressure among patients with plantar fasciitis. J Phys Ther Sci, 27(11), 3555-3557. http://dx.doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.3555
Park, C., Lee, S., Lim, D., Yi, C., Kim, J., & Jeon, C. (2015). Effects of the application of Low-Dye taping on the pain and stability of patients with plantar fasciitis. J Phys Ther Sci, 27(8), 2491-2493. http://dx.doi.org/10.1589/jpts.27.2491
Tahrerian, M., Motififard, M., Tahmasebi, M., & Siavashi, B. (2012). Plantar fasciitis. Journal Of Research In Medical Sciences, 17(8).
Thompson, J., Saini, S., Reb, C., & Daniel, J. (2014). Diagnosis and Management of Plantar Fasciitis.JAOA, 114(12), 900-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.7556/jaoa.2014.177
