Information and Research

Hello! This website provides details of my PhD which is aimed at investigating the effectiveness of dry needling for plantar fasciitis. The site is currently under construction but I am endeavouring to build it steadily over the next few months. My PhD is being completed within the Podiatry Department at La Trobe Univeristy, Bundoora, Australia.

Background

Plantar fasciitis (plantar heel pain)  is a common and disabling condition. A national study of medical doctors in the United States found that approximately one million patient visits per year to physicians are for plantar heel pain. A recent Australian study found that individuals with chronic plantar heel pain experience social isolation; have a poor perception of their health status; are severely limited in their ability to undertake physical activities and lack the energy to undertake daily tasks. Risk factors for plantar heel pain include obesity; prolonged periods of weight-bearing; reduced ankle joint range of motion; increasing age and foot posture.

A wide variety of treatment options are available to patients with plantar heel pain including education; oral and injectable anti-inflammatories; foot orthoses; night splints; calf stretching; foot taping and physical therapy however, 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. Of the interventions commonly used strong evidence from high quality randomised controlled trials exists only for the use of prefabricated and custom made foot orthoses to treat plantar heel pain.

Myofascial trigger point dry needling (TP-DN) is increasingly used as an adjunct therapy for musculoskeletal pain, however there have been no 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 TP-DN and standard therapy compared with sham dry needling and standard therapy for plantar heel pain.