Effectiveness of the Graston Technique on Pain and General Foot Health in Patients with Chronic Plantar Fasciitis: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Background: Chronic plantar fasciitis has been historically treated with conventional physical therapy. The use of the Garston Technique® (GT) is a new intervention for the management of chronic plantar fascitis, but there is lack of evidence in the literature regarding its efficacy.

Study Objective: To evaluate the effectiveness of the GT on pain, foot function and general foot health in patients with plantar fasciitis.

Methods: This was a randomized clinical trial conducted from November 2020 to March 2021. The non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 30 patients.

Setting: Madinah Teaching Hospital, Faisalabad, Pakistan.

Participants: A total of 30 patients of both genders with a 6-week history of planter fasciitis and the presence of a calcaneus everted ≥2° were included in this study and randomly assigned to one of two groups.

Intervention: Both groups received conventional physical therapy (CPT) for 4 weeks and the experimental group in addition received GT.

Primary Outcome Measures: The primary outcome measures were pain, measured at baseline, after the second week and after the end of treatment (ie, the fourth week) on the visual analog scale (VAS); and general foot health and foot function, measured at baseline and after the end of treatment with the Modified Foot Health Status Questionnaire (FHSQ).

Results: The mean age of the study patients was 34.1 ± 6.67 years. There was significant improvement in pain in the GT group compared with the CPT group after the second (P = .005; partial η2 = 0.263) and the 4th (P = .000; partial η2 = 0.535) week of intervention. Foot function was also significantly improved (P < .05) in the GT group compared with the CPT group with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.080). But in the case of general foot health, no significant difference was observed between the groups at the end of the fourth week.

Conclusion: The use of the GT combined with CPT shows significant results compared with CPT alone; ie, GT speeds up the recovery from heel pain and foot function in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis.