Ultrasonographic evaluation in plantar fasciitis
Two articles on PainSci cite Karabay 2007: (1) Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis
PainSci summary of Karabay 2007: ?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.
These researchers used ultrasonography to show that people with plantar fasciitis symptoms have thickened connective tissue on the bottom of their feet. The results were clear and unambiguous — an unusual dose of clarity in a murky subject. Just 23 patients, though, so not a lot of data to work with here.
Other reported results, for whatever it’s worth: no difference in heel pads.
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.
The heels of 23 patients who were diagnosed with unilateral/bilateral plantar fasciitis were evaluated via ultrasonography and compared with their asymptomatic feet and a control group of 23 people. Plantar fascial thickness, echogenity, and heel pad thickness were evaluated, and the results were statistically analyzed. For symptomatic feet, increased thickness of the fascia and reduced echogenity were constant ultrasonographic findings (mean, 4.79 mm for symptomatic feet; 2.17 mm for control group, P < .05). No significant difference was found between heel pads of the diseased and healthy feet (mean, 12.96 mm for symptomatic feet; 13.10 mm for control group; P > .05). Ultrasonography seems to be a valuable, noninvasive diagnostic tool for the evaluation of plantar fasciitis.
related content
- “Application of ultrasound in the assessment of plantar fascia in patients with plantar fasciitis: a systematic review,” Mohammad Ali Mohseni-Bandpei, Masoomeh Nakhaee, Mohammad Ebrahim Mousavi, Ali Shakourirad, Mohammad Reza Safari, and Reza Vahab Kashani, Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 2014.
- “Reproducibility of sonographic measurement of thickness and echogenicity of the plantar fascia,” Ju-Wen Cheng, Wen-Chung Tsai, Tung-Yang Yu, and Kuo-Yao Huang, Journal of Clinical Ultrasound, 2012.
- “The correlation between plantar fascia thickness and symptoms of plantar fasciitis,” Sarah Mahowald, Bradford S Legge, and John F Grady, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, 2011.
- “The relationship between the flexible flatfoot and plantar fasciitis: ultrasonographic evaluation,” YC Huang, LY Wang, HC Wang, KL Chang, and CP Leong, Chang Gung J Med, 2004.
Specifically regarding Karabay 2007:
- Plantar Fasciitis Patients Have Thick Soles — There’s a connection between plantar fasciitis and a surprisingly thick tissue in the arch of the foot
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.