Extracorporeal shock wave therapy versus low-level laser therapy in the management of chronic plantar fasciitis

Abstract EN

Objectives : to compare and evaluate the effectiveness of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) using diagnostic ultrasound (US) in the management of chronic plantar fasciitis (PF).

Patients and Methods: The study was done as a prospective, randomized, comparative clinical study.

Patients with PF were randomly allocated into 2 groups : ESWT (n = 23), LLLT (n = 23), group 1 underwent 2 sessions of ESWT (2050 shocks, 2.5 bars) and group 2 underwent 6 sessions of LLLT (27 J/cm2; 830 nm).

All patients were assessed using the visual analog scale (VAS), foot function index (FFI) and diagnostic US to measure plan-tar fascia thickness and to assess echogenicity before and 1 month after treatment.

Results : There were significant improvement after one month of treatment in the mean VAS, FFI, thick-ness of the plantar fascia and echogenicity in both groups.

LLLT proved significantly superior to ESWT in pain relief (p = 0.029), but no significant difference between both groups in FFI im-provement (p = 0 .264).

No statistically significant difference between both groups regarding improvement in US findings including plantar fascia thickness (p = 0.885) and echogenicity (p = 0.34).

Conclusion: LLLT proved to be more effective than ESWT in pain relief in patients with PF after one month of treatment.