The effectiveness of conservative, non-pharmacological treatment, of plantar heel pain: A systematic review with meta-analysis

A total of 20 studies that investigated the efficacy of 9 different types of interventions were included, with a total of 4 meta-analyses carried out. The interventions: shock waves, laser therapy, orthoses, pulsed radiofrequency, dry-needling, and calcaneal taping resulted in being effective treatments for the outcome pain in patients with plantar heel pain when compared to the placebo. However, considering that the improvements were very small, and the quality of evidence was mostly low or moderate for many of the interventions, it was not possible to give definitive conclusions for clinical practice.