Percutaneous radiofrequency nerve ablation in patients with chronic heel pain

Year 2022, , 168 - 173, 30.09.2022

Mesut Tıkman , Evrim Duman

https://doi.org/10.47482/acmr.1111650

Abstract

Background: Heel pain, known as fasciitis, runner’s heel, tennis heel, or police heel, can sometimes become challenging to manage. Many conservative methods, including stretching or orthosis, steroid injection, and extracorporeal shock wave therapy, are used in treating heel pain. This study investigated the therapeutic effect of percutaneous radiofrequency nerve ablation (RFNA) in treating patients with chronic heel pain.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 78 (84 feet) patients with severe and chronic heel pain were included. Patients with heel pain related to calcaneal spur were resistant to conservative methods. Therefore, RFNA was performed on patients who met the criteria. Patients were assessed with a questionnaire and the visual analog scale (VAS) before and after the procedure.

Results: The mean VAS results were 9.3 ± 0.8 before and 3.4 ± 2.6 six months after the procedure, with statistically significant change observed. (p<0.05) Furthermore, 79.2% of participants found RFNA favorable.

Conclusions: According to the findings, we may say that RFNA successfully relieves chronic heel pain.

Keywords

Chronic Plantar Fasciitis, Radiofrequency Nerve Ablation, Calcaneal Spur.

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