SHORT AND LONG TERM EFFECT OF HIGH INTENSITY LASER THERAPY IN TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH PLANTAR FASCIITIS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS
Naruševičiūtė Dovilė, Kubilius Raimondas, Keizeris Alvidas
Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
Background. Pain associated with plantar fasciitis may cause significant discomfort and disability.
Aim. To investigate clinical effects of High intensity laser therapy (HILT) in patients with plantar fasciitis.
Methods. Subjects with unilateral plantar fasciitis received a course of 8 treatments over 3 weeks. HILT was applied to anatomical site of enthesis of plantar fascia using the BTL-6000 High Intensity Laser 12W (mode = continuous, power = 7W, dose = 120J/cm2, total time = 7min. 8sec.). The outcome was evaluated by measuring pain intensity using Visual Analogue Scale (VAS, mm) and measuring pressure pain threshold using algometry. These measures were taken before, immediately after and one month after treatment. 
Results. There were 37 subjects (mean age 53.46±1.801 years) who participated in this study. 19 of the subjects were reevaluated after one month. According to VAS, the pain of the first step in the morning decreased significantly after treatment (from 67.41 mm to 36.08 mm) and kept significantly decreasing after one month (from 32.11 mm to 16.89 mm). VAS also showed that the pain of the first step after prolonged sitting decreased significantly after treatment (from 64.43 mm to 36.19 mm) and kept significantly decreasing after one month (from 32.42 mm to 21.26 mm). Before the treatment pressure algometry revealed a significant difference between a healthy (mean = 13.15±0.48 kg) and a painful heel (mean = 9.39±0.55 kg). According to the results of pressure algometry, the mean difference between a healthy and a painful heel decreased significantly after treatment (from 3.8 to 2.6 kg) and kept decreasing after one month (from 2.1 to 1.0 kg). After one month pressure algometry showed no significant difference between a healthy (mean = 12.5±0.6 kg) and a painful heel (mean = 11.4±0.7 kg). 
Conclusions. High intensity laser therapy is effective in reducing plantar heel pain.