Dry Needling with a Home Exercise Program for Plantar Fasciitis: A Case Report

Details
Title
Dry Needling with a Home Exercise Program for Plantar Fasciitis: A Case Report
Type
Thesis
Created
2018-07-27T00:00:00Z
Abstract
Background and Purpose Plantar fasciitis (PF) has been identified as the most common foot condition treated by health care providers.1 It is considered a chronic injury often caused by overuse or undue stress to the plantar fascia.2 Medical intervention has developed and assessed numerous treatments in order to address the signs and symptoms associated with PF. This case report will describe a patient diagnosed with PF reporting to an outpatient orthopedic setting, and a modified intervention that included trigger point dry needling (TPDN) and a prescribed home exercise program (HEP). Case Description The patient was a 31-year-old, active male, and member of the United States Navy (USN). He reported to Joint Base Andrew’s (JBA) outpatient physical therapy clinic with the primary complaint of chronic left heel pain, which began 4 months prior. At initial evaluation, the patient was diagnosed with plantar fasciitis, and immediately prescribed with a HEP focused on increasing the length and flexibility of the triceps surae muscles of the left lower extremity. In addition, four weeks after initial evaluation, the patient was treated with one session of TPDN to the affected left lower extremity. Due to work related duties the patient was discharged prior to administration of additional TPDN. Outcomes Before the interventions, the patient demonstrated a limitation in ankle dorsiflexion active range of motion (AROM) of -4°, and reported a pain level on the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) of 5/10. Post interventions, the patient progressed to 8° of ankle dorsiflexion active range of motion (AROM), and reported an NPRS score of 0/10. Discussion This case report describes a modified intervention for managing a patient diagnosed with PF. The application of prescribing a HEP and administering TPDN required less treatment time for the physical therapist, and was feasible. Due to early discharge the patient did not complete the plan of care, however the results demonstrated improvements in the patient’s pain levels and physical limitations.
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/1961/muislandora:3983
Usage & Reproduction Rights
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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