Ultrasonographic evaluation in plantar fasciitis
Two articles on PainSci cite Karabay 2007: 1. Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis
PainSci commentary on 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 wherever 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,” Mohseni-Bandpei et al, Ultrasound in Medicine & Biology, 2014.
- “Reproducibility of sonographic measurement of thickness and echogenicity of the plantar fascia,” Cheng et al, Journal of Clinical Ultrasound, 2012.
- “The correlation between plantar fascia thickness and symptoms of plantar fasciitis,” Mahowald et al, Journal of the American Podiatric Medical Association, 2011.
- “The relationship between the flexible flatfoot and plantar fasciitis: ultrasonographic evaluation,” Huang et al, 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:
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.
- Inciting events associated with lumbar disc herniation. Suri 2010 Spine J.
- Prediction of an extruded fragment in lumbar disc patients from clinical presentations. Pople 1994 Spine (Phila Pa 1976).
- Characteristics of patients with low back and leg pain seeking treatment in primary care: baseline results from the ATLAS cohort study. Konstantinou 2015 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of universal school-based mindfulness training compared with normal school provision in reducing risk of mental health problems and promoting well-being in adolescence: the MYRIAD cluster randomised controlled trial. Kuyken 2022 Evid Based Ment Health.