Foot Orthoses Enhance the Effectiveness of Exercise, Shockwave, and Ice Therapy in the Management of Medial Tibial Stress Syndrome.

Objective: Our aim was to assess the effects of adding arch-support foot-orthoses (ASFO) to a multimodal therapeutic intervention on the perception of pain and improvement of recovery from medial tibial stress syndrome (MTSS) in recreational runners.

Design: A prospective randomized controlled trial.

Setting: Sport training and medical centers.

Participants: Fifty female recreational runners with MTSS were randomized into 2 groups.

Interventions: Runners either received ASFO or sham flat noncontoured orthoses. Both groups received a multimodal therapeutic intervention, including ice massage, ankle muscle exercises, and extracorporeal shockwave therapy.

Main Outcome Measures: Pain during bone pressure using a numerical Likert scale (0-10), MTSS severity using an MTSS scale, perceived treatment effect using the global rating of change scale, and quality of life using the short Form-36 questionnaire were determined at week 6, 12, and 18.

Results: Pain intensity and MTSS severity were lower, and the perceived treatment effect and physical function were better in the ASFO than in the sham flat noncontoured orthoses group at week 6 and week 12. Cohen's dz effect size for between-group differences showed a medium difference. However, arch-support foot-orthoses did not add to the benefits of multimodal therapeutic intervention on pain, MTSS severity and perceived treatment effect at week 18.

Conclusions: Adding ASFO to a therapeutic intervention leads to an earlier diminishment of pain and MTSS severity, and improved PF and perceived therapeutic effects.