Comparison Between Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy and Local Corticosteroid Injection for Plantar Fasciitis

Abstract

Background: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a nonsurgical treatment for plantar fasciitis (PF) that has had satisfactory clinical outcomes. However, local corticosteroid injection (LCI) is often regarded as first-line treatment of PF, but there have been few studies comparing the 2 methods. Therefore, we compared the effect of ESWT and LCI on patients with PF. Methods: This was a block randomized controlled study comparing 49 patients treated with ESWT and 47 patients treated with LCI from January 2017 to December 2018 who were followed for 6 months. We evaluated the clinical outcomes in the 2 groups, including average pain, first-step pain, plantar fascia thickness, and Foot Function Index, Chinese version of the PF patients. Results: All patients had pain relief and function improvement after treatment, whereas the LCI group did not maintain significant clinical improvement at the 3-month follow-up. The patients in the ESWT group had a significantly better clinical outcome with better duration of improvement than the LCI group. Conclusion: For PF patients, both ESWT and LCI resulted in clinical improvement but EWST provided longer relief than LCI. Level of Evidence: Level II, prospective comparative study.

Effects of adjuvant low‐dye Kinesio taping, adjuvant sham taping, or extracorporeal shockwave therapy alone in plantar fasciitis: A randomised double‐blind controlled trial

“…The evaluations of the aforementioned study were made at the baseline and at the end of the treatment, and there was a relatively short follow‐up period. In this study, the fact that ESWT plus low‐dye KT treatment achieved more effective outcomes than ESWT at 4 weeks after the treatment ended shows the effectiveness of low‐dye KT application when added to the ESWT treatment, which is an accepted therapy 19‐22 . Frassanito et al 23 applied ESWT plus KT to one group and ESWT to the other group by dividing patients with calcific tendinopathy in the shoulder.…”

“…In this study, the fact that ESWT plus low-dye KT treatment achieved more effective outcomes than ESWT at 4 weeks after the treatment ended shows the effectiveness of low-dye KT application when added to the ESWT treatment, which is an accepted therapy. [19][20][21][22] Frassanito et al 23 applied ESWT plus KT to one group and ESWT to the other group by dividing patients with calcific tendinopathy in the shoulder. As a result of the mentioned study, similar to our study, ESWT plus KT treatment was found to be more effective than ESWT alone in a 12-week follow-up.…”

Platelet-Rich Plasma vs Autologous Blood Injection to Treat Plantar Fasciitis: A Prospective Randomized, Double-Blinded, Controlled Trial

“…2,9,12,15,23,25 The clinical improvement, including improvements in pain scores and functionality, seen after PRP injections has been thought to be longer lasting with PRP injections compared with CS injections, potentially because of this purported regeneration effect, and has become an alternative to CS injections. 4,13,20,26,27,29,32,38,39 Various outcomes have been reported in comparative studies using PRP injection, CS injection, or different conservative treatment methods for the treatment of PF. 13,20,26,27 Comparative prospective studies with autologous blood injection (ABI) and CS or shock wave have not shown a significant superiority of these methods over ABI.…”

“…2,9,12,15,23,25 The clinical improvement, including improvements in pain scores and functionality, seen after PRP injections has been thought to be longer lasting with PRP injections compared with CS injections, potentially because of this purported regeneration effect, and has become an alternative to CS injections. 4,13,20,26,27,29,32,38,39…”

The Efficacy of Instrumental Physical Therapy through Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy in the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: An Umbrella Review

“…They are frequently used in soft-tissue pathologies and, recently, also in plantar fasciitis [19]. As this physical therapy is widely used for the treatment of plantar fasciitis [20,21], a wide number of studies have arisen to analyze its efficacy, comparing ESWT with other different treatments (especially with placebo or corticosteroids), but these are often head-to-head comparisons with another therapy [22,23]. Furthermore, little attention has been paid to the setting parameters of this physical therapy.…”