Contrast Baths: Plantar Vasciitis And Steroids

Contrast baths are offered to athletes and use the method of alternating vasoconstriction and vasodilation in an attempt to relieve symptoms after strenuous exercise (Bieuzen, Bleakley, & Costello, 2013). The therapeutic goal of using contrast baths is to increase blood flow and bring more nutrients to the site of the injury. By alternating cold and hot water immersion a pumping mechanism is created and this promotes soft tissue healing (Shih, Lee, Lee, Huang, & Wu, 2012).
Summary
In this article, using a double-blinded randomization study, 75 patients that had been diagnosed with plantar fasciitis were divided equally into three groups. 45 Patients were male and 30 were female. Of the 75 patients, 48 patients had plantar fasciitis in both feet, while the other 27 patients only had it in one foot. When the patients were surveyed, the results showed that …show more content…
This group’s therapy consisted of alternating hot water immersion for three minutes and proceed to ice water immersion for one minute. This cycle was done two times through. 16 patients reported pain relief of >10mm, 5 patients had <10mm pain relief, and 4 patients had no pain relief. The Group B consisted of 25 patients, 15 patients had heel pain in both feet while 10 patients only had it one foot. Group B’s therapy consisted of hot water immersion for three minutes, ice immersion for one minute, followed by twelve minutes of hot water immersion. 14 patients of this group reported >10mm, 7 patients reported <10mm, and 4 patients had no pain relief. For the last group, Group C, 16 of the 25 patients had heel pain in both feet while 9 patients had unilateral heel pain. 17 patients of this group had a pain relief improvement of >10mm, 5 patients had decreased pain of <10mm, and 3 patients indicated no improvement. These measurements were obtained one week after the start of treatment (D. Sharma, et al.,