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The effect of high intensity laser therapy in the management of painful calcaneal spur: a double blind, placebo-controlled study

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Abstract

To evaluate the effect of high-intensity laser therapy (HILT) in patients with calcaneal spur. The patients were randomized to receive either HILT + exercise (n = 21) (five times a week for a period of 3 weeks) or placebo HILT + exercise (n = 21) (five times a week for a period of 3 weeks). Pain severity (with visual analog scale (VAS) and with Roles and Maudsley score (RMS)), functionality (with Foot and Ankle Outcome Score (FAOS)), plantar pressure measurement, and quality of life (with short form-36 (SF-36)) of the patients were evaluated at baseline, at 4 weeks, and 12 weeks. A significant improvement in the VAS (p < 0.001), RMS (p < 0.001), and most of the SF-36 subgroup scores (p < 0.05) and most of the FAOS subgroup scores (p < 0.05) at 4 and 12 weeks after treatment was achieved in both groups. Besides, there was no significant difference in VAS (p > 0.05) and RMS (p > 0.05) between the groups. FAOS symptoms (p = 0.022) and quality of life (p = 0.038) subgroups were higher in the placebo group at 12 weeks. Significant improvements were observed in dynamic pedographic measurements in the HILT group (p < 0.05), and dynamic measurement values were significantly higher in the HILT group compared to placebo group (p < 0.05). Although the evaluation parameters, except dynamic pedographic measurements, have improved in both groups, our study results showed no superiority of HILT over placebo. To conclude, when the main complaint is pain in patients, only exercise therapy can be an economical, practical, and reliable treatment.

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The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey

    Hilal Yesil, Umit Dundar, Hasan Toktas & Nuran Eyvaz

  2. Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Faculty of Medicine, Afyon Kocatepe University, Afyon, Turkey

    Murat Yeşil

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  1. Hilal Yesil
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  2. Umit Dundar
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  3. Hasan Toktas
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  4. Nuran Eyvaz
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Correspondence to Hilal Yesil.

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All patients provided written informed consent form and written permission from their physician allowing their participation, and the university hospital ethics committee had approved the study protocol (Decision no. 15-2.1/46).

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Yesil, H., Dundar, U., Toktas, H. et al. The effect of high intensity laser therapy in the management of painful calcaneal spur: a double blind, placebo-controlled study. Lasers Med Sci 35, 841–852 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-019-02870-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-019-02870-w

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