Heel pain is a common foot condition characterised mainly by intense pain when placing weight onto the foot. If the pain is on the back of the heel, it often indicates Achilles tendinitis, however when the pain is felt on underside of the heel, plantar fasciitis is the most common culprit. Plantar fasciitis involves pain and inflammation of the band of tissue running across the bottom of the foot from the heel toward the toes.
Inflammation of the plantar fascia can be caused by either overuse, overstretching or a medical condition. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and steroid injections are often prescribed1, however these drug treatments may be associated with serious side effects2.
Some studies have found electro acupuncture to be effective in the treatment of plantar fasciitis.
Kumnerddee, W., & Pattapong, N. (2012). Efficacy of electro-acupuncture in chronic plantar fasciitis: a randomized controlled trial. The American journal of Chinese medicine, 40(06), 1167-1176.
A study has found that acupuncture is effective for plantar fasciitis, furthermore they found PC 7 has specific treatment effects on heel pain.
Zhang, S. P., Yip, T. P., & Li, Q. S. (2011). Acupuncture treatment for plantar fasciitis: a randomized controlled trial with six months follow-up. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2011.
References
- Crawford, F., & Thomson, C. (2003). Interventions for treating plantar heel pain. Cochrane Database Syst Rev, 3(3).
- Dequeker, J. (1999). NSAIDs/Corticosteroids—primum non nocere. In Rheumaderm(pp. 319-325). Springer US.
