Published in:
01-03-2018 | Ankle
Short-term efficacy and safety of hyaluronic acid injection for plantar fasciopathy
Published in: Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology, Arthroscopy | Issue 3/2018
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Purpose
Plantar fasciopathy is the most common cause of plantar heel pain and is considered to be a type of enthesopathy. The short-term efficacy, safety, and dose-response relationship of high-molecular-weight hyaluronic acid (HA) was investigated in patients with plantar fasciopathy.
Methods
In this multicenter, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, 168 patients with persistent pain from plantar fasciopathy for more than 12 weeks were randomly assigned to receive 2.5 mL of 1% HA (H-HA), 0.8 mL of 1% HA (L-HA), or 2.5 mL of 0.01% HA (control group) once a week for 5 weeks. The primary endpoint was improvement in visual analogue scale (VAS) score for pain from baseline to week 5.
Results
The VAS scores (least squares mean ± standard error) in each group decreased gradually after the start of treatment, a change of −3.3 ± 0.3 cm for the H-HA group, −2.6 ± 0.3 cm for the L-HA group, and −2.4 ± 0.3 cm for the control group, with the H-HA group improving significantly more than the control group (P = 0.029). No serious adverse events were reported. There was no difference between the groups in the incidence rates of adverse drug reactions.
Conclusion
The administration of five injections of high-molecular-weight HA is an effective treatment with no serious adverse drug reactions and is a conservative treatment option for plantar fasciopathy. This treatment contributed to alleviation of pain in patients with plantar fasciopathy and improvement in their activities of daily living.
Level of evidence
I.