Acupuncture Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: A Literature Review

Abstract

Objectives Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain. Plantar fasciitis can be managed with acupuncture, but the evidence for its effectiveness is uncertain. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for plantar fasciitis. Methods I searched specific Korean and foreign electronic databases (KCI, RISS, NDSL, OASIS, KTKP, National Assembly Library, KMbase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure). The key search terms were 'heel pain', 'plantar fasciitis' and 'acupuncture'. Twenty-seven trials were included; eleven case reports, fourteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs). Results Twenty-seven studies reported that acupuncture treatment reduced plantar fasciitis pain. However, the evidence provided by the case reports was regarded as weak because the methodological quality was poor, and the placebo effect of acupuncture was not accounted for in the RCTs and NRCTs. Overall, the methodological quality of the RCTs and NRCTs was weak. Conclusions There is some evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for plantar fasciitis. However, in order to reinforce the evidence for acupuncture's effectiveness, additional placebo-controlled trials with well-designed methodologies are required. (J Korean Med Rehab 2015;25(2):97-110)

Two Cases of Plantar Fasciitis Treated with Magnetic Acupuncture

“…With regards to treatment, research is actively being carried out into electroacupuncture, pharmacopuncture, and catgut-embedding acupuncture 7,19) . Among these treatments, studies on acupuncture have been published steadily, and acupuncture is now recommended for the management of patients with plantar heel pain 6,20) . However, no study has used magnetic acupuncture in plantar fasciitis patients.…”