Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy and Laser in pain reduction of individuals with plantar fasciitis: a systematic review

Abstract

Purpose: To evaluate the effectiveness of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) and Laser in pain reduction of individuals with plantar fasciitis. Methods: Searches were made of randomized trials in MEDLINE, LILACS and Cochrane until November 2016, in English and Portuguese. They included studies that had as a treatment ESWT or the Laser, compared with other methods, and assessed pain with a visual analogue scale. It used the PEDro scale to assess the methodological quality of the studies. Results: We found 131 articles. Of these, 106 were excluded after reading their titles and abstracts and 15 after reading in full, leaving eighy who had as a treatment the ESWT and two the Laser. Conclusion: Of the 10 articles found six showed statistically significant response in relation to pain, two on Laser and six on ESWT.