Plantar fasciitis

Heel pain, mostly caused by plantar fasciitis (PF), is a common complaint of many patients who requiring professional orthopedic care and are mostly suffering from chronic pain beneath their heels. Plantar fasciitis (PF) is also referred to as plantar heel pain, heel spur syndrome, or painful heel syndrome. It is an enthesopathy (an abnormality or injury at the site of attachment of a ligament or tendon to bone) of the origin of the plantar fascia at the medial tubercle of the calcaneus. It leads to inflammation of the thick tissue that creates the arch of the foot. Plantar fasciitis can be a nuisance to treat and, to date, we've had little high quality evidence to guide us. For some time we've noted the similarities between plantar fascial problems and tendinopathy. Back in 2006 Scott Wearing wrote an excellent paper on how the two structures shared similar pathology and similar response to load. The present article reviews studies done on the anatomy of plantar fasciitis and their histo-pathological features, factors associated with planter fasciitis, clinical features, imaging studies, differential diagnoses, and diverse treatment modalities for treatment of planter fasciitis, with special emphasis on non-surgical treatment. Anti-inflammatory agents, plantar stretching, and orthosis proved to have highest priority; corticosteroid injection, night splints and extracorporeal shock wave therapy were of next priority, in patients with planter fasciitis.