Effectiveness of Foot Biomechanical Orthoses to Relieve Patients Suffering from Plantar Fasciitis: Is the Reduction of Pain Related to Change in Neural Strategy?

Table 2

Quantitative analysis of the 3 steps of the stance phase. Step 1: the initial period (reception of the foot) from the heel strike (initial contact) to the foot flat (loading response) representing around 25% of the stance phase in normal cycle. Step 2: the intermediate period (foot flat) from the foot flat to the heel off (terminal stance) representing around 45% of the stance phase in normal cycle. Step 3: the last period (the push) from the heel off to the toe off (preswing) representing 30% of the stance phase in the normal cycle. Compared to respective standards: , p<0.001; ++, p<0.01; δ, p<0.05.

	W1	W3	W6	W9
Healthy participants
Step 1	26.33±2.03	24.12±1.95	23.98±1.25	26.05±1.68
Step 2	47.13±2.03	45.78±1.57	45.65±1.78	43.66±3.33
Step 3	31.66±1.95	32.28±1.78	33.15±1.57	31.15±0.65
Patients with plantar fasciitis
Step 1	6.62±0.93%	7.26±1.01%	8.30±1.46%	9.45±1.13%
Step 2	57.23±3.51%^++	56.08±3.05%^++	47.50±6.95%	40.34±8.05%
Step 3	36.14±3.17%	36.64±2.28%	44.10±7.50	49.19±9.29