Clinical Evaluation of Injection of Corticosteroid and Prolotherapy in the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis

Abstract

Objective: Plantar fasciitis is one of the primary causes of heel pain. Several treatment methods are substantial. This study was aimed to evaluate the clinical results of corticosteroids and prolotherapy injection therapies.Methods: The gender, age, time of symptoms, BMI (body mass index) were specified in 60 patients with symptomatic chronic plantar fasciitis disorder between 2019 and 2020. The patients were randomly divided into two groups as prolotherapy and corticosteroid groups. Foot pain and disability were evaluated via a visual analog scale (VAS) and foot function index (FFI) that interpreted the clinical scores measured at baseline and three months after the injections.Results: The distribution of age, gender, BMI, and duration were similar between groups. The mean VAS scores and FFI scores of all the groups were not significantly different in the baseline time (p > 0.05). A significant improvement was observed in the FFI and VAS scores of the patients in both injection groups (p < 0.05). The post-treatment VAS scores decreased from 8.03 to 4.93 (p=.003) and 7.76 to 4.23 (p=.002), respectively, in the prolotherapy and corticosteroid groups. The post-treatment FFI scores decreased from 176.1 to 126.9 (p=.004) and 181.5 to 121.1 (p=.002), respectively, in the prolotherapy and corticosteroid groups. The percentile decreases in VAS and FFI scores between groups were higher in favor of the corticosteroid group.Conclusion: Prolotherapy and corticosteroid injection treatments provide significant functional outcomes in short-term follow-up of the treatment of plantar fasciitis. Corticosteroid injection results in superior clinical healing than prolotherapy.