Custom-made foot orthoses with and without heel plugs and their effect on treatment outcomes and plantar pressures in patients with plantar fasciitis: A crossover study
Bibliographic record
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Plantar fasciitis (PF) is considered to be the most common cause of plantar heel pain in adults. Various types of foot orthoses (FOs) have been used to treat plantar heel pain, between flat ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) devices, to prefabricated orthoses, to completely custom FOs. The objective of this crossover study was to quantify both objective plantar pressures, and subjective foot function and comfort ratings for two custom foot orthoses (CFOs), one with a heel plug (HP) and one without. METHODS: Twenty-one patients with diagnosed PF participated in this study and were casted using a semi-weight-bearing foam box cast. Both CFOs were made with the same materials and specifications, but the HP orthosis had a softer blue PORON ® plug under the heel for added cushioning. The foot function index (FFI) was given at weeks 0, 4, and 8, as well as a subjective comfort rating at 4 and 8 weeks. Plantar pressures were recorded during treadmill walking for both devices in a running shoe after 8 weeks, after having worn each pair for 4 weeks. Average pressure, peak pressure, and pressure contact area were determined for 3 regions of the foot: hindfoot, midfoot, and forefoot. A paired samples t test determined differences in each region. RESULTS: Average pressure, peak pressure, and pressure contact area were significantly reduced at the hindfoot in the HP orthosis ( P < 0.001), and peak pressure was significantly reduced at the midfoot with the HP orthosis ( P < 0.05). Total FFI scores were significantly reduced with both orthosis types compared to baseline ( P < 0.01), but there was no difference in FFI scores or comfort scores between CFO conditions. CONCLUSIONS: CFOs with heel plugs are more effective at reducing plantar pressure at the heel in patients with PF compared to CFOs without heel plugs. Both CFOs were effective at reducing FFI scores, showing an improvement in pain, and an increase in function and activity after both 4 and 8 weeks of treatment.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.004 | 0.002 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.003 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".