None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
A dearth of facts and abundance of opinions surround the optimal treatment of plantar heel pain. Despite its prevalence, financial burden and impact on the health-related quality of life, the Clinical Practice Guidelines for plantar heel pain proposed by the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association do not recommend one treatment over another. In addition, two systematic reviews have found few interventions that are supported by good evidence. An alternative treatment for plantar heel pain is dry needling, which involves stimulation of myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) using a fine filament needle. Dry needling is increasingly used by physical therapists for the treatment of low back pain, neck pain, shoulder pain and posterior thigh pain and is thought to improve muscle activation patterns, improve joint range of motion and alleviate pain. However, there have been no published randomised controlled trials that have examined the efficacy or effectiveness of dry needling for plantar heel pain. Hence, the aim of this trial is to investigate the effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for plantar heel pain.
Interventions
Treatment involves dry needling of myofascial trigger points (MTrPs) using an acupuncture needle. Treatment will be conducted once per week for a total of 6 weeks. Each session will last for approximately 30 minutes.
Sponsors
La Trobe University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Age greater than 18 years; Clinical diagnosis of plantar heel pain in accordance with the Clinical Guidelines linked to the International Classification of Function, Disability, and Health from the Orthopaedic Section of the American Physical Therapy Association; History of plantar heel pain for greater than one month; First step pain during the previous week rated at least 20mm on a 100mm visual analogue scale; A willingness to not receive or implement any form of physical therapy (e.g. foot orthoses, night splints, foot taping, massage therapy and/or footwear modifications) for the duration of the trial;
Exclusion criteria
Participant refusal to be needled; The presence of coagulopathy or the use of anti-coagulants (except for acetylsalicylic acid at dosages up to 325mg/day); Woman who are pregnant; History of significant peripheral vascular disease; Dermatological disease within the dry needling area that might impair the dry needling treatment; Dry needling or acupuncture treatment in the past 12 months; History of plantar heel pain secondary to connective tissue disease; The presence of a chronic medical condition that might preclude participation in the study such as: malignancy; systemic inflammatory disorders (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis; psoriatic arthritis; ankylosing spondylitis; septic arthritis); neurological abnormalities; sciatica; and/or chronic pain; A history of surgery to the plantar fascia; A history of a corticosteroid injection in the heel in the previous three months; Participant included in any other trial or study in the previous three months; A known hypersensitivity to metals.
Outcome results
None listed