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Acupuncture for Plantar Fasciitis

Discussion in 'Biomechanics, Sports and Foot orthoses' started by NewsBot, Nov 26, 2009.

  1. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1

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    Acupuncture Treatment for Plantar Fasciitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial with Six Months Follow-up.
    Zhang SP, Yip TP, Li QS.
    Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2009 Nov 23. [Epub ahead of print]
     
  2. Admin2

    Admin2 Administrator Staff Member

    Last edited by a moderator: Oct 15, 2023
  3. Craig Payne

    Craig Payne Moderator

    Articles:
    8
    Effectiveness of dry needling and injections of myofascial trigger points associated with plantar heel pain: a systematic review
    Matthew P Cotchett, Karl B Landorf and Shannon E Munteanu
    Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2010, 3:18doi:10.1186/1757-1146-3-18
     
  4. Peter

    Peter Well-Known Member

    I have long given up trying to get pain relief from PF with acupuncture. I tried the traditional acupuncture point from Western a/p, and tried needling several muscle bellies after chatting to Shane Toohey, but it never seemed to work:craig:
     
  5. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis in Recreational Athletes; Two Different Therapeutic Protocols
    Panagiotis Karagounis,
    Foot Ankle Spec August 2011 vol. 4 no. 4 226-234
     
  6. Shane Toohey

    Shane Toohey Active Member

    Hi Peter,
    You wrote:
    Thanks for the mention and sorry, I only just noticed this thread as not often on the arena these days.

    I will assert that I have been using acupuncture techniques as my primary treatment for "plantar fasciitis" and have overwhelmingly good outcomes. I regard the diagnosis of "plantar fasciitis" as being less accurate even than "metatarsalgia" in describing the specifics of a foot problem. Every single case is unique and having a formula of specific points or even a few muscles to needle is very hit and miss (pardon).
    Triggers are where you find them and you can be guided where to look by the specific presentation of where the pain is felt. So some or all of the muscles in the calf and foot intrinsics can be involved in referring pain. The full release of a trgger point may also be helped by cold spray and streching - which also has the potential to aggravate the condition. Heat on the muscles usally helps rather than the cultural wisdom of applying ice. There may also be local tissue damage which may require local needling as 'ashi points' and there are also then specific or general traditional and western points that may be used. Hopefully not as complicated as it sounds and I am trying to be succint.
    Also what I am describing is a practical skill set that is best learnt in a clinical setting rather than in conversation or from the written word. I am completely amazed at how much variation occurs in the practical method of even a simple instruction.
    There may also be perpetuating factors to treat such as poor function, footwear and activities. The continuation of heel pain is often multifactorial so there will never be one simple solution.
    I usually see the chronic sufferers and have to mention over aggressive orthoses as a regular factor in the perpetuation of a problem that seems impossible to shift until the orthoses are removed.
    The acupuncture that I practice would be difficult to do a trial on of course.
    The first mentioned study did not have a control group as far as I can tell and as Cotchett et al point out research up to now has been sub standard in regards to producing reliable evidence one way or the other.
    It is great that the latter group have taken on promoting far more rigorous clinical trials. I would like to suggest that they endeavour to develop an homogenous cohort in relation to the duration of the affliction and the specific site of the pain.

    Cheers
    Shane
     
  7. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    The effectiveness of acupuncture for plantar heel pain: a systematic review.
    Clark RJ, Tighe M.
    Acupunct Med. 2012 Oct 25.
     
  8. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Efficacy of electro-acupuncture in chronic plantar fasciitis: a randomized controlled trial.
    Kumnerddee W, Pattapong N.
    Am J Chin Med. 2012;40(6):1167-76.
     
  9. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Effectiveness of trigger point dry needling for plantar heel pain: a randomized controlled trial
    Matthew P Cotchett, Karl B Landorf and Shannon E Munteanu
    Journal of Foot and Ankle Research 2013, 6(Suppl 1):O8 doi:10.1186/1757-1146-6-S1-O8
     
  10. Shane Toohey

    Shane Toohey Active Member

    Thanks for doing this guys!

    I have a couple of queries re this study as I am unable to find any more info beyond the abstract that the link takes us to.

    1. What was your method with the "sham" dry needling?

    2. what trigger points were you needling and how did you needle them?

    Cheers

    Shane
     
  11. JFAR

    JFAR Active Member

  12. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Sep 22, 2016
  13. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Rationales and treatment approaches underpinning the use of acupuncture and related techniques for plantar heel pain: a critical interpretive synthesis.
    Clark MT, Clark RJ, Toohey S, Bradbury-Jones C
    Acupunct Med. 2016 Jul 7
     
  14. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    How effective is acupuncture for reducing pain due to plantar fasciitis?
    Thiagarajah AG
    Singapore Med J. 2016 Aug 16. doi: 10.11622/smedj.2016143
     
  15. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Two Cases of Plantar Fasciitis Treated with Magnetic Acupuncture
    Gee Won Yun et al
    The Acupuncture 2017; 34(1): 89-96.
     
  16. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Comparison of electroacupuncture and manual acupuncture for patients with plantar heel pain syndrome: a randomized controlled trial
    Weiming Wang et al
    Acupunct Med. 2020 Aug 18
     
  17. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Efficacy of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture or waitlist control for patients with chronic plantar fasciitis: study protocol for a two-centre randomised controlled trial
    Weiming Wang et al
    BMJ Open. 2020; 10(9): e036773.
     
  18. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Effectiveness and safety of warm needling therapy combined with electroacupuncture for patients with plantar heel pain syndrome: A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis
    Juecan Wu et al
    Medicine (Baltimore). 2022 May 27
     
  19. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Reflective and Refractive Practice: Lessons from Reviewing Acupuncture for Plantar Heel Pain.
    Clark, Richard J.
    Journal of Chinese Medicine . Oct2022, Issue 130, p17-28. 12p.
     
  20. NewsBot

    NewsBot The Admin that posts the news.

    Articles:
    1
    Acupuncture for Plantar Fasciopathy: A Randomized Controlled Trial
    Stephen D. CagleJr., Carlton Covey, Jennifer Farrell, Danny J. Sharon, and Paul Crawford
    27 Dec 2022
     
  21. Brian A. Rothbart

    Brian A. Rothbart Well-Known Member

    Acupuncture, like muscle strengthening exercises, are regimens which are treating a symptom (e.g., Inflammation of the plantar connective tissue). Both methods are, no doubt, effective in controlling pain.

    A far better approach, IMO, is to identify and treat the primay cause of Plantar Fasciitis.
     
  22. scotfoot

    scotfoot Well-Known Member

    I'm not sure strengthening the intrinsic foot muscles will be that effective at reducing plantar heel pain unless the muscles are allowed to function fully.

    Moving from a modern shoe to a minimal shoe for everyday activities improved toe flexor strength by 57% in one study, indicating increased IF muscle involvement in foot function .This might lead to reduced PF involvement and pain improvements .

    But what aspect of the modern shoes dampens IFM activity. I would guess the toe spring.
     
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