Fig. 1

Flow diagram of participant recruitment and retention. *Upper age limit was 60 years for the first 5 months of enrollment and increased to 70 for the next 32 months until enrollment ended. ^†Reasons provided were because the patient did not live near the clinic to attend regular appointments (n = 23), did not have time to participate (n = 27), was concerned about additional copayments or treatment-related costs (n = 19), or chose not to participate (n = 20). ^‡Completers were defined as individuals who attended clinic appointments or follow-up according to the plan mutually set by the patient and provider as indicated in the participant’s medical record or completed at least 4 visits with a physical therapist if assigned to the usual podiatric care plus physical therapy treatment (uPOD+PT) group [53,54,55]. Individuals that did not complete treatment were participants who failed to follow-up as planned. PHP, plantar heel pain; uPOD, usual podiatric care; FAAM, foot and ankle ability measure