Corticosteroid injection for plantar heel pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Whittaker, Glen A.; Munteanu, Shannon E.; Menz, Hylton B.; Bonanno, Daniel R.; Gerrard, James M.; Landorf, Karl B.

doi:10.1186/s12891-019-2749-z

BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders

Table 1 Descriptive characteristics of trials included in the review

From: Corticosteroid injection for plantar heel pain: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Trial	Intervention	Comparator	Cointerventions	Participants per group		Female participants (%)	Mean age (years)	Mean BMI (kg/m²)	Duration of symptoms (weeks)^a	Trial duration (weeks)	Trial setting
Trial	Intervention	Comparator	Cointerventions	Intervention	Comparator	Female participants (%)	Mean age (years)	Mean BMI (kg/m²)	Duration of symptoms (weeks)^a	Trial duration (weeks)	Trial setting
Abdihakin (2012) [20]	Corticosteroid injection	Placebo injection	i) Oral anti-inflammatory drugs three times daily; ii) stretches; iii) foot orthoses; iv) heel splints; v) shoe recommendations	44	38	52	42.9	31.7	NR	12	Outpatient clinic
Acosta-Olivo (2017) [21]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	Plantar fascia stretches	14	14	80	44.8	NR	> 12 weeks	16	Outpatient clinic
Afsar (2015) [22]	Corticosteroid injection	Autologous blood injection	None	62	61	57	31.8	NR	> 12 weeks	24	Outpatient clinic
Babaei-Ghazani (2019) [23]	Corticosteroid injection	Ozone injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	15	15	90	46.3	29.0	> 8 weeks	12	Outpatient clinic
Ball (2012) [24]	Corticosteroid injection	Placebo injection	Permitted to use analgesia if required	22	19	56	49.4	31.6	> 8 weeks	12	Rheumatology service
Celik (2015) [25]	Corticosteroid injection	Physical therapy	None	21	22	65	45.5	30.0	NR	52	Hospital
Crawford (1999) [26]	Corticosteroid injection	Local anaesthetic injection	NR	27	27	65	57.0	NR	NR	26	Hospital
Crawford (1999) [26]	Corticosteroid injection + tibial nerve block	Local anaesthetic injection + tibial nerve block		26	26
Diaz-Llopis (2012) [27]	Corticosteroid injection	Botulinum toxin-A injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	28	28	66	53.9	NR	> 26 weeks	4	Hospital
Elizondo-Rodriguez (2013) [28]	Corticosteroid injection	Botulinum toxin-A injection	Plantar fascia stretches	17	17	55	43.0	NR	> 12 weeks	26	Hospital
Eslamian (2016) [29]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	i) Foot orthoses and heel pads; ii) plantar fascia and calf stretches	20	20	82	42.1	NR	> 8 weeks	8	Hospital
Guevara Serna (2017) [30]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	24	36	67	51.0	NR	> 12 weeks	52	Hospital
Guner (2013) [31]	Corticosteroid injection	Tenoxicam injection	A stretching and strengthening program	30	31	77	41.4	29.5	> 12 weeks	52	NR
Hanselman (2015) [32]	Corticosteroid injection	Cryopreserved human amniotic membrane	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	14	9	70	51.0	NR	> 12 weeks	18	NR
Hocaoglu (2017) [33]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	36	36	87	49.0	28.7	> 26 weeks	26	Outpatient clinic
Hou (2018) [34]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	39	38	35	41.5	25.4	> 12 weeks	26	Hospital
Jain (2015) [35]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	i) Eccentric stretches; ii) foot orthoses	22	24	65	55.6	NR	> 52 weeks	52	Hospital
Jain (2018) [36]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	40	40	42	38.3	24.1	> 12 weeks	26	Hospital
Johannsen (2019) [37]	Corticosteroid injection	Physical therapy	NR	31	30	58	45.0	26.2	> 12 weeks	104	University
Johannsen (2019) [37]		Corticosteroid injection + physical therapy			29
Karimzadeh (2017) [38]	Corticosteroid injection	Control group	Plantar fascia stretches	12	12	67	47.5	NR	> 8 weeks	12	NR
Karimzadeh (2017) [38]		Autologous blood injection			12
Kiter (2006) [39]	Corticosteroid injection	Autologous blood injection	NR	14	15	69	50.7	NR	> 26 weeks	26	University
Kriss (2003) [40]	Corticosteroid injection	Foot orthoses	NR	22	26	60	59.3	NR	NR	26	NR
Kriss (2003) [40]		Corticosteroid injection + foot orthoses			31
Lai (2018) [41]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	Acetaminophen as required	50	47	56	53.5	NR	> 4 weeks	12	Hospital
Lee (2007) [42]	Corticosteroid injection	Autologous blood injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	31	30	93	48.7	26.1	> 6 weeks	26	Outpatient clinic
Li (2014) [43]	Corticosteroid injection	Miniscalpel needle	Participants were permitted to continue with any conservative treatment	30	31	72	55.8	NR	> 26 weeks	52	Hospital
Mahindra (2016) [44]	Corticosteroid injection	Placebo injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	25	25	58	33.4	NR	> 12 weeks	12	NR
Mahindra (2016) [44]		Platelet-rich plasma injection			25
Mardani-Kivi (2015) [45]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	None	41	40	84	44.3	29.6	< 6 weeks	12	University
McMillan (2012) [46]	Corticosteroid injection	Placebo injection	Plantar fascia stretches	41	41	48	52.6	31.1	> 8 weeks	12	University
Monto (2014) [47]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	i) CAM walker for two weeks; ii) Swedish heel drop program; iii) plantar fascia and calf stretches	20	20	57	55.0	29.2	> 16 weeks	104	NR
Mulherin (2009) [48]	Corticosteroid injection	Tibial nerve block		14	12	60	55 (median)	NR	NR	26	Community medical centre
Mulherin (2009) [48]		Corticosteroid injection + tibial nerve block			19
Omar (2012) [49]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	NR	15	15	100	43.5	NR	NR	6	Hospital
Porter (2005) [50]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	64	61	66	39.2	NR	> 6 weeks	52	Hospital
Rastegar (2018) [51]	Corticosteroid injection	Dry-needling	NR	34	32	58	40.9	NR	> 12 weeks	52	University
Ryan (2014) [52]	Corticosteroid injection	Physical therapy	Calf stretches	28	28	57	49.3	25.2	> 52 weeks	12	University
Saber (2012) [53]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	30	30	55	34.2	29.0	> 26 weeks	12	Outpatient clinic
Serbest (2013) [54]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	15	15	53	45.2	30.5	> 6 weeks	12	Sports medicine clinic
Shetty (2019) [55]	Corticosteroid injection	Placebo injection	i) Oral enterocoxib and paracetamol for 5 days; ii) plantar fascia stretches; iii) eccentric calf strengthening	30	30	54	44.6	NR	> 12 weeks	78	Hospital
Shetty (2019) [55]		Platelet-rich plasma injection			30
Sorrentino (2008) [56]	Corticosteroid injection in participants with perifascial oedema	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	NR	16	15	56	NR	27.9	> 8 weeks	6	University
Sorrentino (2008) [56]	Corticosteroid injection in participants without perifascial oedema	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy		15	16
Tiwari (2013) [57]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	NR	30	30	NR	NR	NR	NR	26	Hospital
Ugurlar (2018) [58]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	Acetaminophen for 3 days	40	39	50	38.8	26.9	> 52 weeks	156	Hospital
Ugurlar (2018) [58]	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	Prolotherapy		39	40
Uygur (2018) [59]	Corticosteroid injection	Dry-needling	NR	47	49	66	49.6	NR	> 12 weeks	26	Hospital
Vahdatpour (2016) [60]	Corticosteroid injection	Platelet-rich plasma injection	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	16	16	72	46.2	29.6	> 12 weeks	26	Hospital
Whittaker (2019) [61]	Corticosteroid injection	Foot orthoses	Plantar fascia and calf stretches	50	53	61	43.9	30.4	> 4 weeks	12	University
Yesiltas (2015) [62]	Corticosteroid injection	Autologous blood injection	NR	21	28	57	45.5	30.4	NR	26	Hospital
Yucel (2010) [63]	Corticosteroid injection	Extracorporeal shockwave therapy	None permitted other than heel cups	33	27	70	43.9	NR	> 26 weeks	12	NR
Yucel (2013) [64]	Corticosteroid injection	Foot orthoses	Analgesia if required	20	20	80	46.4	30.1	> 12 weeks	4	University
Yuzer (2006) [65]	Corticosteroid injection	Laser therapy	NR	30	24	85	50.5	32.3	> 4 weeks	26	NR
Zamani (2014) [66]	Corticosteroid injection	Laser therapy	NR	20	20	57	52.5	NR	> 6 weeks	6	Rheumatology clinic

Abbreviations: NR Not reported, BMI Body mass index
^aThe minimum duration of symptoms that was specified in the inclusion criteria for the trial

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