A Pilot Study on the Comparative Effect of Electrical Dry Needling and Dry Needling Combined with Laser Acupuncture in Patients with Plantar Fasciitis

Abstract

Background: Plantar fasciitis is one of the prevalent etiology of heel pain, that is preceded by plantar fascia inflammation and micro tears. Its management has been conducted though different physiotherapeutic techniques like use of dry needling and laser therapy. The objective of the pilot study will be to provide a comparison of the Electrical Dry Needling, Dry Needling, and Laser Acupuncture on pain and functioning on the patients with the plantar fasciitis.

Methodology: The 20 respondents who were randomly selected with a clinically diagnosed plantar fasciitis were divided into two groups, viz. Group a Electrical Dry Needling and Group B Dry Needling Laser Acupuncture. The measures of outcomes (NPRS and Function Foot Index or FFI) were assessed before and after the intervention. Paired and independent t-test was used as the statistical analysis.

Findings: The within-group differences in both of the groups were significant in the changes of pain and functioning (p < 0.001). The difference in the improvement was that in both the NPRS and FFI, the improvement was more pronounced in Group B but improvement in FFI is the one that was being reported as the nearest to statistical significance(p=0.05) as possible.

Conclusion: The two interventions were appropriate in the management of the pain and enhancement of the functioning in the plantar fasciitis. Nonetheless, Laser Acupuncture with Dry Needling did not generate significant improvement, implying that there is some value of synergy. More extensive studies at large scale are required to prove these results.