%0 Journal Article
%T Comparison of the Short-Term Effect between Iontophoresis and Radial Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy in the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: A Randomized Controlled Trial.
%A Pabón-Carrasco M
%A Coheña-Jiménez M
%A Pérez-Belloso AJ
%A Algaba-Del-Castillo J
%A Cáceres-Matos R
%A Castro-Méndez A
%J Healthcare (Basel)
%V 12
%N 12
%D 2024 Jun 19
%M 38921337
%F 3.16
%R 10.3390/healthcare12121223
%X Conservative treatments for plantar fasciitis have different levels of effectiveness, so it is necessary to personalize the therapeutic modality that improves the patients' symptoms.
METHODS: A double-blinded randomized clinical trial was designed to evaluate the short-term efficacy of a physical treatment in chronic plantar fasciitis, namely iontophoresis, compared with radial shockwave therapy. Heel pain, health status using the EuroQol-5D questionnaire, and fascia thickness measured with ultrasound were evaluated. In total, 127 patients were randomly selected for group A and treated with iontophoresis therapy (lidocaine 0.4% and dexamethasone 0.5%), or for group B, in which they were treated with radial shockwave therapy (EWST). Measurements were taken at baseline and at follow-up during the 5 weeks of the study.
RESULTS: Statistically significant differences were observed to the shockwave therapy group in respect to the final fascia thickness, and the VAS scale (p = 0.001). The differences between groups A and B showed that the shockwave group follow-up after 3 weeks experienced complete pain remission (1.0 ± 0.9; 95%CI 0.8-1.2) and after the 6-week follow-up, complete pain remission of plantar fasciitis was observed for both therapies. Patients had a better perception of the use of EWST at the end of the treatment, although in both groups it was satisfactory (p = 0.001).
CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study showed a shorter-term effectiveness of shockwave treatment compared with the use of iontophoresis. However, both techniques were effective in satisfactorily reducing pain in this short period.