Intensive physiotherapy versus home-based exercise and custom-made orthotic insoles in patients with plantar fasciitis: Pilot study

•Plantar fasciitis is debilitating foot problem in wide range of populations.•Treatment options include: stretching, strengthening, manual techniques, and insoles.•Intensive physiotherapy, home exercises, and insoles were effective for pain relief.•Manual techniques are effective for patients with ankle dorsiflexion limitation. This prospective pilot study assessed the feasibility of comparing intensive physiotherapy group (IPG), home-based exercise (HBEG) group, and insole group (IG) to find the most effective treatment program for plantar fasciitis. Thirty-nine individuals with plantar fasciitis were selected to participate in this pilot study. The patients were randomly divided into 3 groups, as IPG (manual interventions, exercise, insoles), HBEG (exercise, insoles), and IG (insoles). The feasibility details including percentage of the enrollment and adherence to the groups were recorded. Pain was measured with a visual analog scale, and dorsiflexion range of motion (DROM), foot function, and health-related quality of life were evaluated at the baseline and week 6. One-way ANOVA analysis and Kruskal Wallis test were used to determine the differences of the percentage change of the parameters. Pain and functional evaluation results showed improvements clinically in all of groups and quality of life results were similar for all groups. There was no difference between the groups after 6 weeks of treatment (P > 0.05). The 3 treatment programs were found clinically applicable with high patient adherence. According to the data all intervention types were found moderately effective for pain and function. Insoles could be an option applied alone or with other treatments, and manual techniques gave better results in patients with limited ankle dorsiflexion. Although the results should be interpreted with caution because of the small sample size, these results were found promising and feasible to conduct a future RCT. RCT 06144834.