I was intrigued by the literature review of Drs Clement and Taunton in the recent BCMJ (“Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the management of plantar fasciitis,” 2004;46[4]:174-178 [9]).
While appreciating the complexity of this type of therapy, I would find it difficult to persuade someone to pay the required $895. Painful heels are not limited to those who are “well-heeled.”
Fortunately, in our 25 years of practice, I have yet to find a patient who failed to respond to conservative therapy (exercise, orthotics, NSAIDs) or, as a last resort, one or two injections of cortisone into the heel.
The high-tech aspects of shock wave therapy are appealing, but is this just another machine in search of diseases to treat?
—Bernhard Toews, MD
Coquitlam
Links
[1] https://bcmj.org/cover/julyaugust-2004
[2] https://bcmj.org/author/bernhard-toews-md
[3] https://bcmj.org/node/1723
[4] https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-extracorporeal-shock-wave-therapy
[5] https://bcmj.org/printmail/letters/re-extracorporeal-shock-wave-therapy
[6] http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-extracorporeal-shock-wave-therapy
[7] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Re: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy&url=https://bcmj.org/print/letters/re-extracorporeal-shock-wave-therapy&via=BCMedicalJrnl&tw_p=tweetbutton
[8] https://bcmj.org/javascript%3A%3B
[9] https://bcmj.org/content/extracorporeal-shock-wave-therapy-management-plantar-fasciitis
[10] https://bcmj.org/modal_forms/nojs/webform/176
[11] https://bcmj.org/%3Finline%3Dtrue%23citationpop