Steroid injection versus Non-invasive Therapy in the Treatment of Plantar Fasciitis: A Study of 101 Cases

Background and objectives: about 10% of people have plantar fasciitis, the most prevalent foot condition. There are currently no applicable guidelines. We aimed to make a study hypothesis (no difference between using local steroid injections and steroids taken orally with home physical therapy) in treating plantar fasciitis. Methods: An interventional study was done in Duhok, Kurdistan region, Iraq. The period between 15/5/2021-15/1/2023. A randomly selected 101 patients were divided into two groups. The first group received local steroid injections while the second group received oral steroids with Simple home physiotherapy. The Visual Analogue Scale and Foot Function Index were recorded during the trial for pain evaluation. Result: Patients were randomly assigned to two comparable groups. The pain significantly increased in the first two weeks after corticosteroid injection in the heel, with a significant p-value of 0.001 and a mean difference of 1.36299; however, the pain decreased after eight weeks and three months, with mean differences in vas II and vas III of 0.21094 and -0.45781, respectively. There was a substantial difference between local injection and oral types of treatment in foot functional index in ff1 with p-value ? 0.001. Conclusion: The use of local injection of steroids is more painful in the first two weeks and more sustained pain relief after that time with lesser recurrences of heel pain in cases of plantar fasciitis.