The effects of pathological changes of foot structures on foot function of patients with plantar fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is the most common foot impairment and affects approximately
10% of all adults during their life. This disease is tedious and very painful
due to degeneration or inflammation of the plantar enthesis of the plantar
fascia at the calcaneus insertion site. Complete recovery from PF may take six
to eighteen months, regardless whether treatment was used or not. Multiple
risk factors for PF have been reported such as obesitas, pes planus/cavus,
diabetes mellitus and frequent running (Goff & Crawford, 2011; Roxas, 2005).
Despite of the multiple risk factors studied and reported, little attention has
been paid to corresponding impairments of foot structures. Furthermore, most
studies are performed on patients with a chronic form of plantar fasciitis.
Therefore, at present, the role of foot structural changes on the formation of
plantar fasciitis and corresponding effects on foot function is not clear .

This exploratorive study is performed to improve our understanding of possible
etiologic factors and the relationships between foot mobility, intrinsic foot
muscles and foot segment kinematics during gait for patients with sub-acute and
chronic plantair fasciitis.
• The primary goal of this project is assessing the properties of foot
structures that possibly play a role in the etiology of PF. The properties of
the foot structures of the patients will be compared to those of the control
group and associations will be evaluated.
• The secondary aim is recording the effects of PF on movements of segments of
the foot during gait. The foot segment movements from patients will be compared
to the movements of healthy subjects
• The third aim is to analyse the possible correlations with
characteristics/properties of foot structures.

This study has a cross-sectional design, with one measurement session. In the
assessment session at the RRD, foot mobility, questionnaires and muscle force
measurements will be performed for all participants. During the walking trial,
gait kinetics and kinematics will be assessed for the healthy subjects and the
patients with plantar fasciitis.

Participation of a subject in this experiment has no direct benefit for him or
her. The risk in participation is small because walking is a natural and
familiar act and participation will not get in the way of recovery. Regarding
the use of ultrasound, Merrit (Merritt, 1989) reports that ultrasound is a safe
imaging modality. The World Health Organization supports that ultrasound is a
safe and highly flexible imaging tool (World Health Organization, 1998).
Therefore, no risks are associated with ultrasound when used once. Furthermore,
during all the measurements a physiotherapist will accompany the subjects.
Subjects can take rest between the measurements any time they like and may stop
the experiment at any time desired.