2023 ISAKOS Biennial Congress ePoster
Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy In Runners With Plantar Fasciitis
Masaaki Takahashi, MD, PhD, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka JAPAN
Sunsuke Ogino, PT, Hamamatus, Shizuoka JAPAN
Jyuzen Memorial Hospital, Hamamatsu, JAPAN
FDA Status Not Applicable
Summary
Extracorporeal shock wave therapy is effective in treating planter fasciitis in runners.
ePosters will be available shortly before Congress
Abstract
[Purpose]Running is one of the most popular sports worldwide, with many health benefits. Injuries are also common, with running-related injuries reported in up to 79% of runners annually. Extracorporeal shockwave treatment can be used to treat soft tissue conditions, with the strongest level of evidence for management of plantar fasciitis. The aim of this study is to assess the benefit to treat plantar fasciitis with low-dose energy extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and the efficacy of such treatment to abate the painful symptoms allowing a rapid return to the running activity. [Methods]Our study included 20 running athletes treated for plantar fasciitis associated with and without a heel spur, aged 22 – 79 years old, 11 females and 9 males. All were recreational runners. A low-dose ESWT was done with EPOS Ultra(Dornier, Germany). The outcome measures were the visual analog scale (VAS) for tenderness and motion pain. The statistical analysis was done by Wilcoxon rank sum test. Both tenderness and motion pain showed significant improvements in terms of VAS (p values <0.01). [Results]For tenderness, pre-treatment VAS was 49.0(29.0-62.0) and post-treatment VAS was 16.0(6.0-34.0). For motion pain, pre-treatment VAS was 39.0(31.8-80.8) and post-treatment VAS was 15.0(6.8-38.3). [Discussion]Low-energy ESWT seems to be a good mean to treat plantar fasciitis in runners with a significant improvement for both tenderness and motion pain. A randomized multicentric study seems to be necessary to define the type of energy that should be used in the future to treat plantar fasciitis, in particular in the athletic patients, to allow a faster return to sports activities.
Conclusion
ESWT is effective in treating planter fasciitis in runners.