Severe chronic heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis successfully treated through transcranial direct current stimulation.

Abstract

Recently, transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), a noninvasive brain stimulation technique, was proposed as a suitable method for the treatment of several chronic pain syndromes. We describe a case of severe heel pain in a diabetic patient with plantar fasciitis successfully treated with tDCS. The present study investigated whether tDCS treatment could reduce pain and pain-related anxiety in a 65-year-old diabetic man affected by treatment-resistant right heel pain due to plantar fasciitis. The patient underwent five tDCS treatment sessions on 5 consecutive days. Each session consisted of 20-min anodal tDCS over the left primary motor cortex leg area. The neurostimulation protocol induced a decrease in pain intensity and pain-related anxiety that outlasted the stimulation (1 week). Furthermore, the patient stopped the intake of opioid medication. Therapeutic neuromodulation with tDCS may represent an alternative option for treating severe lower-extremity pain.