About the Journal

Download [This article belongs to Volume - 62, Issue - 09]

Abstract : Plantar fasciopathy has become one of the most common underdiagnosed and undertreated heel pain. Many studies have been done to investigate predisposing factors for this disorder, but some of them contradicting. This may be attributed to the employment of physical examination as the sole diagnostic method, which is prone to bias. To investigate predisposing factor of plantar fasciopathy using ultrasound measurement. Cross-sectional study was conducted on patients with complaints of heel pain. They were assessed through physical examination and thickness of fascia plantar confirmed via ultrasound. Fascial thickness, demographic and risk factors data were all documented. A total of 106 patients with a mean age of 52.91±9.08 were employed. Bivariate analysis showed that age is the only significant risk factor (p=0.0017). ROC analysis indicated an AUROC value of 0.7097 (95% CI; 0.596-0.823). LR+ calculation 50 years old age cutoff showed a 62.5% higher risk value. Older age is associated with an increased risk of plantar fasciopathy and should be considered in patients with heel pain complaints. Ultrasound-measured fascia plantar is an objective, easy-to-do, more readily available, and cost-effective method to help diagnose plantar fasciopathy.