ABSTRACT
Background
Plantar fasciitis (PF) can disturb individual’s weight-bearing activities. Hence, conservative treatments with immediate effect in reducing pain and improving foot function is required.
Objective
This study compared the effect of kinesiotaping and stretching exercise in individuals with PF.
Methods
Thirty patients with PF were randomly divided into three groups, and received kinesiotaping, stretching exercise, and a combination of the two aforementioned interventions. Pain intensity and foot disability were measured at baseline, immediately after the first treatment, and at one week.
Results
Immediately after the first treatment, all groups showed significant changes in heel pain intensity (p ≤ .012) with the standardized response mean (SRM) of 2.85, 1.96, and 1.43 for the taping, stretching, and the combination groups, respectively. Nevertheless, no significant change in foot disability was found (p > .05). At the one week, all groups continued to demonstrate significant reduction in heel pain (p ≤ .012) with the SRM of 1.78, 2.84, and 2.09 for the taping, stretching, and the combination groups, respectively. While the combination group showed significant reduction in foot disability (p = .024). However, there was no significant difference of the change score in all parameters among the three groups (p > .05).
Conclusion
Improvement in heel pain was observed in all groups after the first treatment. However, improvement in foot function over one week was observed only among those who received the combined treatment. Further studies on larger samples are required to establish the superiority of the combined treatment over kinesiotaping or stretching alone.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the subjects for their willingness to participate in this study. This study was funded by the 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund), Bangkok, Thailand.
Declaration of Interest
The authors declare no conflict of interest.