Get Relief from Plantar Fasciitis With Acupuncture

It’s now confirmed that acupuncture can provide patients who suffer from plantar fasciitis some much-needed relief. Research out of Guangxi People’s Hospital found that acupuncture, when combined with herbal foot baths, can be an effective method to eliminate the effects of plantar fasciitis. The comparison was made using Traditional Chinese Medicine, also known as TCM, foot baths as a stand-alone therapy with a combo of foot baths and acupuncture.

Contrasted with Chinese herbal foot bath methods alone, researchers found that when they added acupuncture treatments, the pain and swelling felt by the patient decreased greatly. In addition, it reduced the rate of relapse.

What is Plantar Fasciitis?

Plantar fasciitis is when the band of tissue that appears along the sole of the foot becomes painful and inflamed. This causes intense heel pain, usually felt most in the mornings upon getting out of bed. It causes initial sharp pain that decreases as one walks around for the day, but can return after long periods of standing or after getting up from sitting.

It’s common in runners but can happen to anyone. The pain intensifies when one bears weight on that foot. Pain on the heel’s posterior usually shows achilles tendinitis, while pain on the heel’s underside usually indicates plantar fasciitis.

Study Results

The acupuncture/herbal foot bath combination resulted in an effective rate of 91 percent. With just the TCM foot baths, a 69 percent rate was revealed. Adding acupuncture to foot bath therapy increased the effective rate by 22 percent. Relapse rates, which were calculated after three months’ post treatment, decreased when acupuncture was combined with TCM foot baths, to a 27 percent relapse rate. When involving just foot baths, the relapse rate was about 66 percent. You can see there is a big improvement here.

The study involved 74 patients, with that group divided into two smaller groups of even numbers. The results revealed that TCM foot baths were effective in alleviating plantar fasciitis, and even more so when adding acupuncture. Indeed, the positive patient outcome rates increased.

This is just the latest in a long list of studies that shows the effectiveness of acupuncture in patients with plantar fasciitis. In conclusion, the data suggests that acupuncture and TCM herbal foot baths provide a positive solution for the majority of patients.

Eager to learn more about how we can help you with your plantar fasciitis pain? Call Metro Detroit Acupuncture, Michigan’s leading acupuncture, Chinese herbs and pain management clinic. Book your appointment by calling 248-432-2846.