Clinical Edge - Physio Edge 092 Plantar heel pain - The latest research & how to apply it with Henrik Riel

When your patient has heel pain with their first few steps in the morning, after sitting for a while or at the start of a run, a diagnosis of plantar heel pain (PHP) or plantar fasciopathy might jump straight to the top of your list. How will you treat your patients with PHP? How long will it take? How can you explain PHP, the rehab and recovery to your patients?

In this podcast with Henrik Riel (Physiotherapist, researcher and PhD candidate at Aalborg University) we take a deep dive into PHP, and how you can treat it, including:

How to describe plantar heel pain to your patients
How to explain to your patient why they developed PHP, recovery timeframes and rehab
Plantar fasciitis, plantar fasciopathy, plantar heel pain? What's the most appropriate terminology?
Differential diagnosis for PHP including
- Neuropathic pain
- Fat pad irritation, contusion or atrophy
- Calcaneal stress fracture
- Other diagnoses
How to systematically perform an objective assessment and diagnose PHP
Assessment tests to identify factors contributing to your patients pain
Whether your patients require imaging
How long PHP takes to recover
What factors affect your patients prognosis and recovery times
How to differentiate your treatment for active or sedentary patients
Whether your patients can continue to run with PHP
Factors that may hinder the recovery of your sedentary patients, and how to address these
Whether your patients should include stretching in their rehab
Types of strengthening to include in your rehab - isometric, isotonic or otherwise
How many sets and reps should your patients perform of their strengthening exercises
Whether orthotics are useful
Corticosteroid injections - do they help or increase the risk of plantar fascia rupture?