Iraqi Postgraduate Medical Journal

Abstract

ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND:
Planter fasciitis is the most common cause of inferior heel pain in adults; it is a degenerative process of the planter fascia at its origin on the calcaneus. Many treatment modalities are used including NSAIDs, orthotics, local steroid injection, extracorporeal shock wave therapy and others. Recent studies have shown that topical nitroglycerin has a healing and analgesic effect in other tendinopathies like: tennis elbow, suraspinatus tendinitis and Achilles tendinitis.
OBJECTIVE:
We want to establish the role of topical nitroglycerin in treatment of plantar fasciitis.
PATIENTS AND METHODS:
A double blind placebo controlled study included 54 patients, after taking medical history they were subjected to physical examination. Nitroderm TTSR 5 patches were used in the treatment group, similar placebo patches were used in the placebo group. The severity of the symptoms was quantified initially for each patient using the visual analogue scale (VAS). By using SPSS (statistical package for social sciences) software for windows, data of all patients were entered and analyzed with appropriate statistical tests according to the types and distribution of variables (Chi square test and Students’t test).
RESULTS:
Response to topical treatment was (76.7%) in the GTN group most of them with moderate and good response compared to (41.7%) in placebo group most of them with mild response.
CONCLUSION:
It was clear that NGT patches were superior to placebo patches in improving the symptoms of patients, so that topical NGT can enhance healing of planter fasciitis. This may be a useful alternative to the current modalities of treatment used for this common