Abstract
Baldassin V, Gomes CR, Beraldo PS. Effectiveness of prefabricated and customized foot
orthoses made from low-cost foam for noncomplicated plantar fasciitis: a randomized
controlled trial.
Objectives
To evaluate the effectiveness of prefabricated and customized foot orthoses made from
low-cost foam (ethylene vinyl acetate [EVA]) in plantar fasciitis.
Design
Double-blinded randomized controlled trial.
Setting
Public rehabilitation referral medical center.
Participants
One hundred forty-two adults (75% women) with plantar fasciitis, without anatomical
alterations in the feet. Seventeen subjects (12%) were lost during the follow-up.
Interventions
Prefabricated and customized foot orthoses, both made from EVA, used for 8 weeks.
Main Outcome Measures
The primary outcome was pain (modified subscale of the Foot Function Index, [FFI]
pain). The secondary outcomes were pain elicited by palpation in the medial calcaneal
tuberosity and modified FFI total. Each participant was reviewed in the 4th and 8th
weeks of follow-up.
Results
One hundred twenty-five participants returned to at least 1 of the follow-up evaluations
(63 in the prefabricated and 62 in the customized groups). There was a significant
improvement in both groups (P<.05), but there was no difference of modified FFI pain between intragroup differences
at 4 (4.03 points; 95% confidence interval [CI], −4.2 to 12.3) and 8 weeks (3.93 points;
95% CI, −4.6 to 12.5).
Conclusions
The low-cost prefabricated and customized foot orthoses, as used in this trial, had
similar effectiveness in the treatment of noncomplicated plantar fasciitis after 8
weeks of use. Our results were similar to other trials, although those trials did
not use orthoses made from EVA. Thus, EVA prefabricated inserts may be the best choice
for the treatment of plantar fasciitis without complication.
Key Words
List of Abbreviations:
CI (confidence interval), EVA (ethylene vinyl acetate), FFI (Foot Function Index)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Footnotes
Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, ACTRN012607000319471 (www.anzctr.org.au).
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit on the authors or on any organization with which the authors are associated.
Reprints are not available from the author.
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
