Treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis with extra corporeal shock wave therapy: ultrasonographic morphological aspect and functional evaluation.

OBJECTIVE

This paper has the purpose to analyze prospectively the treatment results in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis resistant to conservative treatment who underwent extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT).

METHODS

We evaluated 30 patients (36 feet); 16 (53.3%) patients were male and 14 (47.7%) female with mean age of 48.7 y.o., varying from 33 to 78 y.o.; 16 (53.3%) present the problem on the left side, 14 (46.7%) on the right ones and 6 (20%) bilateral; the symptomatology varied from 6 to 60 months, with the average of 13.58 months. These patients were submitted to a weekly ESWT session for 4 consecutive weeks. We measured the plantar fascia thickness millimeters with ultrasound and we applied American Orthopaedic Foot and Ankle Society (AOFAS) scale for ankle and hindfoot, and Roles & Maudsley scales in pre ESWT, after one, three and six months after and decrease in the plantar fascia thickness by the ultrasound ( = 0.011) along the different moments studied.

RESULTS

We observed improvement of the evaluated criteria ( < 0.001) and plantar fascia thickness by ultrasound ( = 0.011) at different time points studied.

CONCLUSION

The ESWT can be considered an important tool in the primary or adjuvant treatment of the chronic plantar fasciitis when associated with conventional therapies. This methodology is safe, non-invasive and provides precocious rehabilitation and return to regular activities considering the results of the statistical analysis. This resource provides decrease in the thickness of the plantar fascia.