Is Exercise Program Added to Corticosteroid Injection Effective on Pain and Performance in Plantar Fasciitis?

Our exercise program in our study; (i) foot intrinsic muscle strengthening exercise (with a load of 3 kg), (ii) plantar fascia stretching with finger extension, (iii) standing gastrocnemius muscle stretching, (iv) sitting achilles tendon stretching, (v) plantar fascia and gastrocnemius stretch on the step, (vi) cold massage exercise in the arch of the foot. We stated that the group to which exercise was added should do the exercises regularly for 6 weeks, in the specified number and time.

"The orthopedic physician administered the corticosteroid injection as a mixture of 1 ml of arthropane (5 mg of triamcinolone hexacetonide) and 4 ml of citanest. Before the application, the physician cleaned the area to be treated with 10% povidone iodine. He made a single dose injection by entering the painful point determined by palpation around the calcaneal spur and plantar fascia from the percutaneous foot-heel lateral. The patients were in the prone position with the ankle in a neutral position.~After the application, he covered the area with a sterile cloth and said to remove it after 3 hours. He stated that patients could apply ice to the injected area if necessary for pain control, and advised patients to avoid all jogging and other high-impact activities on the day of injection. No additional treatments, including NSAIDs, orthoses, and night splints, were allowed during the study period."