A randomized clinical trial comparing hip abductors strengthening and manual therapy in patients with plantar fasciitis: a study protocol

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Plantar fasciitis (PF) is a common cause of heel pain and deformity of the ankle joint. More than 11%-15% of the population with foot symptoms need long-term care. Various physical therapy intervention with conventional therapy, including manual therapy, has been proven to help this condition. OBJECTIVE:  To evaluate the effect of Hip abductor strengthening and Manual therapy (MT) in a patient with Plantar Fasciitis (PF). METHODS: The design of the study will be A Two Group Pretest-Posttest randomized control trial. A total of 30 male and female participants aging above 18-60 years experiencing pain provoked by taking the first few steps in the morning, pain in the plantar heel region, will be allocated randomly into two groups- Group A will receive Manual therapy (MT) with conventional physiotherapy while Group B will receive hip abductors strengthening with conventional physiotherapy. Both groups will receive 16 sessions of treatment for 4 days each week for 4 weeks. “Foot function index,” “Podia scan,” “Navicular drop test” will be used as outcome measures and will be evaluated at the first week and fourth week of treatment in both the groups. CONCLUSION: The patients who receive Hip Abductor Strengthening intervention may have positive results compared to the MT intervention among patients with PF. That will be the first study to compare the effect of hip abductors strengthening and manual therapy.