A retrospective study of standing gastrocnemius-soleus stretching versus night splinting in the treatment of plantar fasciitis
One article on PainSci cites Barry 2002: Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis
PainSci summary of Barry 2002: ?This page is one of thousands in the PainScience.com bibliography. It is not a general article: it is focused on a single scientific paper, and it may provide only just enough context for the summary to make sense. Links to other papers and more general information are provided at the bottom of the page, as often as possible.
From the abstract: “The night splint treatment group had a significantly shorter recovery time, fewer follow-up visits to recovery, and fewer total additional interventions compared to the [standing calf] stretching group.”
original abstract †Abstracts here may not perfectly match originals, for a variety of technical and practical reasons. Some abstacts are truncated for my purposes here, if they are particularly long-winded and unhelpful. I occasionally add clarifying notes. And I make some minor corrections.
Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain, yet the conservative treatment of plantar fasciitis is not standardized. This open retrospective study compared the effects of standing gastrocnemius-soleus stretching to a prefabricated night splint. One hundred and sixty patients with unilateral or bilateral plantar fasciitis were evaluated and treated according to the standard regimen in addition to either night splints or stretching. Seventy-one patients performed standing stretching of the gastrocnemius-soleus complex. Eighty-nine patients utilized the prefabricated night splint without standing stretching. The night splint treatment group had a significantly shorter recovery time (p < .001), fewer follow-up visits to recovery (p < .001), and fewer total additional interventions (p = .034) compared to the stretching group. Absolute body weight, body mass index, and age did not have a statistically significant effect on the time to recovery or additional interventions needed. The duration of pain prior to this treatment was a predictive factor and was associated with increased time to recovery and increased number of treatment interventions. Its was concluded that early treatment in a standardized four-tiered treatment approach, including the night splint without standing stretching of the gastrocnemius-soleus complex, speeds time to recovery.
related content
- “Conservative treatment of plantar heel pain: long-term follow-up,” M Wolgin, C Cook, C Graham, and D Mauldin, Foot & Ankle International, 1994.
- “Plantar fasciitis: a prospective randomized clinical trial of the tension night splint,” ME Batt, JL Tanji, and N Skattum, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, 1996.
- “Effective treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis with dorsiflexion night splints: a crossover prospective randomized outcome study,” M Powell, WR Post, J Keener, and S Wearden, Foot & Ankle International, 1998.
- “Plantar fascia-specific stretching exercise improves outcomes in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. A prospective clinical trial with two-year follow-up,” Benedict F Digiovanni, Deborah A Nawoczenski, Daniel P Malay, Petra A Graci, Taryn T Williams, Gregory E Wilding, and Judith F Baumhauer, Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, 2006.
This page is part of the PainScience BIBLIOGRAPHY, which contains plain language summaries of thousands of scientific papers & others sources. It’s like a highly specialized blog. A few highlights:
- Relationships Between Sleep Quality and Pain-Related Factors for People with Chronic Low Back Pain: Tests of Reciprocal and Time of Day Effects. Gerhart 2017 Ann Behav Med.
- Modulation in the elastic properties of gastrocnemius muscle heads in individuals with plantar fasciitis and its relationship with pain. Zhou 2020 Sci Rep.
- Association Between Plantar Fasciitis and Isolated Gastrocnemius Tightness. Nakale 2018 Foot Ankle Int.
- No Added Benefit of Combining Dry Needling With Guideline-Based Physical Therapy When Managing Chronic Neck Pain: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Stieven 2020 J Orthop Sports Phys Ther.
- Effectiveness of customised foot orthoses for Achilles tendinopathy: a randomised controlled trial. Munteanu 2015 Br J Sports Med.