Corticosteroid injections compared to foot orthoses for plantar heel pain: protocol for the SOOTHE heel pain randomised trial

摘要

IntroductionCorticosteroid injections and foot orthoses are common interventions for plantar heel pain. Previous clinical trials have found that the effectiveness of these interventions differs over time, with corticosteroid injections being more effective in the short-term (i.e. 0–4 weeks) and foot orthoses more effective in the longer-term (i.e. 5–12 weeks). However, some of these trials have methodological weaknesses that could have caused confounding and bias, which may have led to over- or under-estimation of the effectiveness of these interventions. As a result, there is a need to compare the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections and foot orthoses in a robust clinical trial with an appropriate follow-up time.