• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.32 no.1
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• pp.29-33
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• 2020

Purpose: This study examined the effects of the weight-bearing pattern and calcaneal taping on the heel width and plantar pressure in standing. Methods: Fifteen healthy subjects with normal feet participated in this study. The heel width was measured using a digital caliper, and a pedoscan was used to measure the plantar pressure of the rear foot while standing. The participants were instructed to stand in three weight-bearing patterns (anterior, middle, and posterior weight bearing) before and after calcaneal taping. The heel width and plantar pressure were measured three times before and three times after calcaneal taping, with the three weight-bearing patterns applied in random order. A 2 (non-taping vs. taping) × 3 (anterior, middle, posterior weight bearing) two-way repeated ANOVA with a Bonferroni post hoc correction was used to assess the differences in heel width and plantar pressure. Results: The results revealed a significant main effect of the weight-bearing pattern (p<.01), but not of calcaneal taping (p>.05). Greater weight bearing applied to the heel resulted in a significantly increased heel width and planter pressure of the rear foot (p<.01). Conclusion: In standing, a posterior weight-bearing pattern increases the heel width due to side-to-side shifting of the plantar heel pad, which increases the heel plantar pressure. Therefore, to prevent high stress on the heel pad and plantar heel pain, it is important to refrain from posterior weight bearing while standing during the activities of daily living.

• Clinical Pain
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• v.18 no.1
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• pp.31-35
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• 2019

Plantar heel pain is a common clinical problem in foot and ankle clinics. Typically, several conditions such as plantar fasciitis, fat pad atrophy, and calcaneal fracture may lead to plantar heel pain. However, subcalcaneal bursitis occurred between plantar fascia and plantar fat pad has rarely been described as a cause of plantar heel pain. To our knowledge, subcalcaneal bursitis has been reported only once, but there was no mention of preceding factors. We firstly present a case of subcalcaneal bursitis occurred after excessive walking exercise known as "Nordic walking" and successfully managed with conservative treatments that relieve impact on plantar heel.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.8 no.1
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• pp.22-25
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• 2004

Purpose: The heel fat pad has a unique structure that is important for its shock absorbing function. Loss of elasticity and change in the thickness of the heel pad have been suggested as cause of heel pain. The present study shows the relationship between the thickness of heel fat pad and age, sex, obesity and plantar heel pain. Materials and Methods: A study of heel pad thickness using plain lateral radiographs, unloaded by body weight, was carried out on 66 patients with plantar heel pain and 326 normal subjects. The population was divided into two or three groups according to their age, sex, body mass index, and the presence of symptom. We evaluated the differences in heel pad thickness between groups, and the relationship between BMI and Sex and Age was also determined, using statistically analytic method by SPSS version 10.1 program. Results: Heel pad thickness was greater in the subject over 40 years old (p<0.001), and in the overweight (p<0.001), and male heel pad was thicker than female (p<0.001). But there was no statistically significant difference for heel pad thickness between normal subject and plantar heel pain group. Conclusion: In this study, we found that there is a relationship between heel pad thickness and age, sex, and obesity. But we could not show that the difference of heel pad thickness is contributing factor to plantar heel pain. Although it could not be proved statistically, we believe that a change of heel pad thickness play a role in the development of heel pain. So we are planning to assess a relationship of heel pad elasticity and thickness and plantar heel pain again with prospective study method on the basis of the results of this study.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.126-132
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• 2021

Purpose: This study examined whether there are seasonal variations in the number of plantar fasciitis cases from the database of the Korean Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service and an internet search of the volume data related to plantar fasciitis and whether there are correlations between variations. Materials and Methods: The number of plantar fasciitis cases per month was acquired from the Korean Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service from January 2016 to December 2019. The monthly internet relative search volumes for the keywords "plantar fasciitis" and "heel pain" were collected during the same period from DataLab, an internet search query trend service provided by the Korean portal website, Naver. Cosinor analysis was performed to confirm the seasonality of the monthly number of cases and relative search volumes, and Pearson and Spearman correlation analysis was conducted to assess the correlation between them. Results: The number of cases with plantar fasciitis and the relative search volume for the keywords "plantar fasciitis" and "heel pain" all showed significant seasonality (p<0.001), with the highest in the summer and the lowest in the winter. The number of cases with plantar fasciitis was correlated significantly with the relative search volumes of the keywords "plantar fasciitis" (r=0.632; p<0.001) and "heel pain" (r=0.791; p<0.001), respectively. Conclusion: Both the number of cases with plantar fasciitis and the internet search data for related keywords showed seasonality, which was the highest in summer. The number of cases showed a significant correlation with the internet search data for the seasonality of plantar fasciitis. Internet big data could be a complementary resource for researching and monitoring plantar fasciitis.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.20 no.3
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• pp.93-99
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• 2016

Plantar fasciitis is the most common cause of heel pain. The diagnosis of plantar fasciitis is primarily based on the presentation of symptoms and physical examination. Patients usually complain of heel pain at the medial calcaneal tubercle when taking their first step in the morning or when walking after resting. Diagnostic imaging is rarely required for the initial diagnosis of plantar fasciitis; however, it can be used for differential diagnosis. Conservative treatments, such as stretching, rest, ice massage, oral analgesics, foot orthotics, use of night splint, and corticosteroid injection, may be effective. The majority of patients report improvement with conservative treatments, and those who show no response from conservative treatments for a duration of six months or longer can consider extracorporeal shock wave therapy or surgery.

• Journal of Korean Foot and Ankle Society
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• v.12 no.2
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• pp.122-127
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• 2008

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical outcome of proximal plantar fasciitis after nonoperative treatment, and also to find the correlation of the heel pain with the plantar fascia thickness measured by ultrasonography. Materials and Methods: The study is based on 41 patients, 46 feet of the proximal plantar fasciitis that were treated conservatively with at least 12 months follow-up. All were treated with heel pad, Achilles and plantar fascia stretching and pain medications for at least 3 months. Heel ultrasonography was performed at the beginning of the treatment to measure the plantar fascia (PF) thickness and the echogenicity. PF thickness over 4 mm and less were grouped in to group A and B respectively to compare the clinical outcome. Results: Average thickness of the PF at the calcaneal attach was 5.2 mm. Symptom duration before the treatment was average 13.2 month; group A being 14.6 months and group B being 9.0 months with no significant difference (p=0.09). As functional evaluation, Roles-Maudsley score improved from 3.4 initially to 2.3 at final follow-up, while morning heel pain also improved from average VAS pain score of 7.2 to 4.0. However Maudsley and VAS score both didn't show statistical difference between the 2 groups (p>0.05). Conclusion: Plantar fasciitis improved substantially with the nonoperative treatments. However, the 2 groups, divided according to 4 mm thickness by ultrasonography, didn't show significant difference in either symptom duration or in the clinical outcomes.

• The Journal of Korean Physical Therapy
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.434-438
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• 2015

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of calcaneal taping on peak plantar pressure of rearfoot and forefoot while walking. Methods: Fifteen healthy subjects with normal feet participated in this study. Inclusion criteria were as follows: (1) no disturbance of gait and foot pain, (2) normal range of motion of ankle joint, (3) no foot deformity. Pedoscan was used for recording of plantar pressure data during walking. The participants walked along a 12-m walkway before and after application of calcaneal taping. The plantar pressure gait was measured 3 times under barefoot and calcaneal taping conditions randomly at a speed practiced with the metronome during gait. The peak plantar pressure data were calculated for medial and lateral areas of the rearfoot and forefoot. The paired t-test was used to determine significant differences in peak plantar pressure of rearfoot and forefoot before and after application of calcaneal taping. A p-value less than 0.05 was accepted as significant. Results: The calcaneal taping resulted in statistically significant decreases in peak plantar pressure of the rearfoot (medial side: p=0.03; lateral side: p=0.01). However, there were no significant changes in peak plantar pressure of the forefoot (medial side: p=0.45; lateral side: p=0.40). Conclusion: The calcaneal taping is recommended to reduce plantar pressure of the rearfoot in weight-bearing activities in subjects with plantar heel pain caused by atrophy of the fat pad.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.97-110
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• 2015

Objectives Plantar fasciitis is one of the most common causes of heel pain. Plantar fasciitis can be managed with acupuncture, but the evidence for its effectiveness is uncertain. The aim of this review was to assess the effectiveness of acupuncture for plantar fasciitis. Methods I searched specific Korean and foreign electronic databases (KCI, RISS, NDSL, OASIS, KTKP, National Assembly Library, KMbase, PubMed, The Cochrane Library and China National Knowledge Infrastructure). The key search terms were 'heel pain', 'plantar fasciitis' and 'acupuncture'. Twenty-seven trials were included; eleven case reports, fourteen randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and two non-randomized controlled trials (NRCTs). Results Twenty-seven studies reported that acupuncture treatment reduced plantar fasciitis pain. However, the evidence provided by the case reports was regarded as weak because the methodological quality was poor, and the placebo effect of acupuncture was not accounted for in the RCTs and NRCTs. Overall, the methodological quality of the RCTs and NRCTs was weak. Conclusions There is some evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for plantar fasciitis. However, in order to reinforce the evidence for acupuncture's effectiveness, additional placebo-controlled trials with well-designed methodologies are required.

• Journal of Korean Orthopaedic Sports Medicine
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.121-124
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• 2010

In athletes, repetitive low-energy impacts in plantar lesion lead often to tendinitis, stress fracture, or overuse syndrome. The major cause of heel pain in athletes is plantar fasciitis. And it is most often attributable to repetitive low energy impact, but the vast majority patients with heel pain achieve symptomatic relief with conservative treatment and return to full activities. Not commonly, Nerve entrapment may be occurred from repetitive low energy trauma in athletes, and is not as easily diagnosed. The authors observed a basketball player who complained of chronic heel pain that do not respond to conservative treatment, he had the lesions both plantar fasciitis and lateral plantar nerve entrapment. The authors described an unusual mechanism of entrapment of the lateral plantar nerve combined with a chronic plantar fasciitis in a basketball player and reported with review of literature.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.111-118
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• 2008

Objectives : Plantar fasciitis is most common cause of heel pain which starts from anterior tubercle of calcaneus. It is chronic inflamation of plantar fascia, reduces collagen and water content of heel pad which incur the degenerative changes with elastic fiber weakness. We have evaluated the effect of myofacial releasing therapy and acupuncture therapy by experimenting two patients suffering from plantar fasciitis. Methods : Two patients were diagnosed as plantar fasciitis through their symptoms. We used myofacial releasing therapy and acupuncture therapy to the patients and measured VAS(Visual analogue scale). Results and Conclusions : After treating myofacial releasing therapy and acupuncture therapy in two cases, We figured out that the patients were on the mend. These results suggest that myofacial releasing therapy and acupuncture therapy were effective to heel pain.