Prolotherapy has gained popularity in the area of musculoskeletal medicine but there are limited studies about its efficacy. Both dextrose prolotherapy injection and radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy had alike effectiveness in terms of pain and function improvement at 3 months, this study revealed.

In this study, the treatment effectiveness of radial extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) and ultrasound (US)-guided dextrose prolotherapy has been compared in patients with chronic plantar fasciitis (PF).

Fifty-nine patients with chronic PF were assigned into 2 groups receiving 3 sessions of radial ESWT (n = 29) versus 2 sessions of ultrasound-guided intrafascial 2 cc dextrose 20% injection (n = 30) at random. Pain intensity by routine life and exercise activities by Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM), visual analogue scale (VAS), and the PF thickness via US imaging were assessed prior to and then at 6 and 12 weeks after the use of these therapies.

Both groups had substantial improvements in pain and function at 6 weeks and 12 weeks after the treatments. At these periods, a significant reduction was noted for PF thickness. Other than the FAAM-sport subscale which favoured the use of ESWT, no significant results for other outcomes measures were found. There were no severe adverse effects.

In PF patients, dextrose prolotherapy had comparable efficacy to radial ESWT in providing pain relief, routine-life functional limitation, and PF thickness.