A randomized control study to assess the efficacy of platelet rich plasma and local corticosteroid injection in treatment of chronic plantar fasciitis

Introduction and Objectives: Among all the known tendinopathies plantar fasciitis and tennis elbow account for most cases.Corticosteroid injections considered the treatment of choice for tendinopathies. Emerging therapeutic modalities is the use of platelet rich plasma for tendinopathies having the advantage of being autologous and concentrated that are rich in growth factor proteins. The study was done to find the efficacy of these two modalities. Materials and Methods: The study was done at Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital, satisfying the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria. In this study, 3 ml of the extracted PRP or 40 mg of prednisolone was injected into the affected area. Post-intervention pain and functional assessment at 2 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months and 6 months with visual analogue score and ankle hind foot scale and foot and ankle disability index score. Results: The age in our study was 18 to 55 years, the mean in the steroid group was 37. 3 and in the PRP group was 37.43, right side was most commonly involved 52%. In both the groups there was significant difference in the VAS scores p<0> In both the groups there was significant difference p<0> Interpretation and Conclusion: PRP has better effect pain in patients with longer duration as compared to local steroids but the difference is not statistically significant. The making of PRP is cumbersome but the patients did prefer to steroids due to the adverse effects.