Effects of Customized Foot orthoses and Biomechanical Taping on Patients with Plantar Heel Pain

All patients in this study received the individualized biomechanical taping applied to both feet by the physical therapist. The biomechanical taping consisted of 2 components, arch taping and calcaneal taping. The physical therapist applied 2-4 straps of tape over the longitudinal arch according to navicular drop test to reach the optimal goal that the distance of the navicular drop was less than 10 mm or reduced 50 % after taping. Each piece of tape followed the similar pattern, from the lateral aspect of the fifth metatarsal head and ran medially around the medial longitudinal arch to end on the navicular tuberosity, with overlap of approximately one third of the tape. Calcaneal taping was applied when the physical therapist found the presence of calcaneal valgus exceeding 5 degrees. Application of the tape in this study was 3.8-cm-wide Leuko Sports Tape (Beiersdorf Australasia Ltd, North Ryde, Sydney, Australia). Patients were advised to maintain usual activity within the limits of symptoms and removed the tape after 3 days by himself or herself. At 1 week after the first visit, a experienced physical therapist gave all patients customizied foot orthoses (Vasyli International), which were fitted to their shoes with comfort as a primary goal. These orthoses are customisable to some degree to optimise comfort through heat moulding and by adding wedge or heel raises. After wearing for 1 week, 1 month, 3 months and 6 months, all patients returned back for follow-ups. There is no specific frequency/duration for which the shoes with fitted orthoses are to worn, but the frequency and duration were recorded. At each follow-up, we encouraged patients to wear the foot orthoses as much time as possible.