Effective treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis with dorsiflexion night splints: a crossover prospective randomized outcome study
One page on PainSci cites Powell 1998: Complete Guide to Plantar Fasciitis
PainSci commentary on Powell 1998: ?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: “We believe dorsiflexion splints provide relief from the symptoms of recalcitrant plantar fasciitis in the majority of patients.”
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.
Chronic plantar fasciitis frustrates patients and treating physicians. Our hypothesis was that use of a dorsiflexion night splint for 1 month would effectively treat patients with recalcitrant plantar fasciitis. A 6-month randomized crossover study included 37 patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. Patients were treated with dorsiflexion night splints for 1 month. Group A wore splints for the 1st month and group B for the 2nd month. No splints were used in either group for the final 4 months of the study. No other medications, stretching, or strengthening exercises were prescribed. Eighty-eight percent of patients who completed the study improved. Eighty percent of the involved feet improved subjectively. Results of the AOFAS Ankle-Hindfoot Rating System and the Mayo Clinical Scoring System demonstrated significant improvement for both groups during the period of splint wear. Improvements were maintained at study completion. Response to splinting did not correlate with foot type, degree of obesity, or the presence of heel spur on radiographs. We believe dorsiflexion splints provide relief from the symptoms of recalcitrant plantar fasciitis in the majority of patients.
related content
- “Conservative treatment of plantar heel pain: long-term follow-up,” Wolgin et al, Foot & Ankle International, 1994.
- “Plantar fasciitis: a prospective randomized clinical trial of the tension night splint,” Batt et al, Clinical Journal of Sports Medicine, 1996.
- “A retrospective study of standing gastrocnemius-soleus stretching versus night splinting in the treatment of plantar fasciitis,” Barry et al, Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery, 2002.
- “Plantar fascia-specific stretching exercise improves outcomes in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis. A prospective clinical trial with two-year follow-up,” Digiovanni et al, Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, 2006.
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- Placebo analgesia in physical and psychological interventions: Systematic review and meta-analysis of three-armed trials. Hohenschurz-Schmidt 2024 Eur J Pain.
- Recovery trajectories in common musculoskeletal complaints by diagnosis contra prognostic phenotypes. Aasdahl 2021 BMC Musculoskelet Disord.
- Cannabidiol (CBD) products for pain: ineffective, expensive, and with potential harms. Moore 2023 J Pain.