Frequency of Plantar Fasciitis among Females in Teaching Profession

Abstract

Objective: To find the frequency of plantar fasciitis among females teachers in Sialkot and to explore the relationship of heel pain due to plantar fasciitis with age, body mass index (BMI), type of shoes wearing and standing hours.
Methodology: This cross-sectional study was the project of Sialkot College of physiotherapy (SCPT). It was conducted in February to March 2018 after taking ethical approval from institutional review board of SCPT (IRB-SCPT DPT-115-2018). Sample size was 150 subjects. Female teachers of age ranged 25-60years ,who fulfill inclusion criteria were enrolled by convenience sampling technique from the Sialkot based colleges. Data was collected by administering Plantar Fasciitis Pain/Disability Scale (PFPS) questionnaire among the female teachers. Data was analyzed by SPSS22.
Results: This study was comprised of 150 participants with mean age30.69±5.44years. Mean of height, weight and BMI were 1.63± 0.34, 60.17±11.71, 23.68±4.39 respectively. Mean±SD of visual analogue scale (VAS) and total PFPS scores were 5.78±2.461 and 36.5±13.5 respectively. Of total population 46.3% of subjects have plantar fasciitis. Middle sole of foot was the most affected area by plantar fasciitis (PF), followed by ball of foot, heel and toe with subsequent values52(34.7%),43(28.7%),37(24.7%) and 18(12%) respectively The significant difference in mean VAS score for pain intensity was found among the subjects with and without PF (p value 0.000*). Plantar fasciitis was frequently found in subjects with higher age group than younger ones (p value 0.000*). Current results showed that 31% of total subjects with PF were used to wear flat shoes, whereas only 16 percent wear heel shoes and 23% were using both type of shoes (heel& flat). However this association was not found to be significant on regression analysis. Current results of regression analysis also did not find any significant impact of BMI (p value 0.50) and standing hours (p value 0.804) and types of shoes (p value 0.620) on the development of plantar fasciitis. Plantar fasciitis was positively associated with age (p value 0.002). Conclusion: Plantar fasciitis is found among teachers, commonly affecting middle sole area of the foot. PF is positively associated with age; however standing hours and BMI was not associated with it.