“The plantarfascia is a thick, nonelastic, multilayered connective tissue crossing the plantar part of the foot. Plantar fasciitis is the main cause of pain in the plantar surface of the heel.”
The plantarfascia is located at the bottom of the foot, between the heel and the toes. It is very thick and a tough band.
A part of physical therapy school includes dissecting the human body. Some people find this disgusting, but it is actually an honor. We were told that only 5% of college students will ever be able to dissect the human. The bottom of the foot is very intricate. There are multiple layers of muscles, but the plantar fascia is a very taut band that requires a scalpel in order to tear. In other words, it is very strong tissue.
“In the United States, more than 2 million people are treated for plantar fasciitis every year…the most common signs for identifying plantar fasciitis are pain and tenderness in the medial …heel bone, as well as an increase in pain when taking first steps in the morning and pain in prolonged weight bearing.”
First, plantar fasciitis is mostly diagnosed through a patient’s history.
Second, there are a lot of people with plantar fasciitis that seek out treatment.
This leads us to the next statement from the article
“…researchers have not determined the most effective combination of treatments due to the dearth of high quality research in this area.”
Feel good about this condition yet? So many treatment options are available, but few with solid research to back them up.
If you are interested in learning more, check out this Link
“One of the most widely used electrical devices among physical therapists in Israel and worldwide is therapeutic ultrasound…Yet there is insufficient high quality scientific evidence to support the clinical use of therapeutic ultrasound in treating musculoskeletal problems.”
I find it funny that PT’s should know this information and yet they act opposite of what the evidence indicates. There are running jokes that using ultrasound may be just as effective turned off as when turned on.
If your PT continues to utilize ultrasound, ask why?
Sometimes the answer may simply be: it is easy, it can be charged and it will do no harm.
Treatment:
Both groups were given stretches for the Achilles/calf and the plantar fascia. One group was issued ultrasound at a higher intensity in order to create a thermal effect and the other group was given ultrasound that was low intensity and not postulated to have any physiological effect, as the intensity was low and the depth of treatment was considered more superficial.
There was no significant difference in the number of treatments per group.
Result: There was no additive effect of ultrasound on the treatment of plantar fasciitis for pain, function or quality of life.
There are reasons to use ultrasound from a business perspective, but the more and more that I read research I find fewer reasons to perform the intervention medically.
Reference:
Yigal K, Haidukov M, Berland OM et al. Additive Effect of Therapeutic Ultrasound in the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial. J Orthop Sports Phys. 2018;48(11):847-855.