Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy for the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis

Abstract

One hundred fifty patients were enrolled in a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled, prospective, double-blind study to assess the clinical safety and effectiveness of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) using the Dornier Epos Ultra for the treatment of plantar fasciitis. The Active Group was treated with electromagnetically generated shocks using ultrasound guidance during a single therapy session. The Control Group received a sham treatment under similar clinical conditions. The groups were demographically similar with respect to age, height, and weight. The average duration of symptoms was nearly 2 years in both groups. All patients were evaluated by the visual analog scale for pain, American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society scores, Roles and Maudsley Score, SF-12 health status questionnaire, and physical examination. The Active Group reported 56% success at 3 months and 94% success at 12 months posttreatment. The Control Group reported 47% success at 3 months posttreatment. Twelve-month data were not collected for the Control Group as they were unblinded at 3 months and offered treatment. ESWT represents a safe treatment option for chronic proximal plantar fasciitis.

Resistant plantar fasciopathy: shock wave versus endoscopic plantar fascial release

“…Many, but not all, randomized, blinded and controlled multicenter trials have demonstrated that ESWT is more effective than placebo treatment [18,24,34]. However, some studies showed disappointing results [6,13,33].…”

Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy Is Effective In Treating Chronic Plantar Fasciitis: A Meta-analysis of RCTs

“…Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has been proposed as a potential method of treating patients with chronic disease without the need to stop weightbearing [10,16,21,22].…”

An Evaluation of the Efficacy of ESWT and Placebo-ESWT Treatment for Chronic Plantar Fasciitis

“…Many placebo-controlled clinical studies have been published reporting that ESWT is a successful treatment in the treatment of plantar fasciitis with success rates reaching 94% [5,[10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]19,20]. However, some researchers have reported that ESWT showed no difference in effect from a placebo in the treatment of plantar fasciitis [6,[21][22][23].…”

“…There have been many studies evaluating the efficacy of ESWT in the treatment of plantar fasciitis and although the majority of these studies have reported effective and successful results [5,7,[9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20], some researchers have stated that ESWT has had no effect [6,[21][22][23].…”