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 commentary on 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 wherever 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:
- A double-blinded randomised controlled study of the value of sequential intravenous and oral magnesium therapy in patients with chronic low back pain with a neuropathic component. Yousef 2013 Anaesthesia.
- Is Neck Posture Subgroup in Late Adolescence a Risk Factor for Persistent Neck Pain in Young Adults? A Prospective Study. Richards 2021 Phys Ther.
- Photobiomodulation therapy is not better than placebo in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a randomised placebo-controlled trial. Guimarães 2021 Pain.
- No effect of creatine monohydrate supplementation on inflammatory and cartilage degradation biomarkers in individuals with knee osteoarthritis. Cornish 2018 Nutr Res.
- The CANBACK trial: a randomised, controlled clinical trial of oral cannabidiol for people presenting to the emergency department with acute low back pain. Bebee 2021 Med J Aust.