Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, ISSN - 0973 - 709X

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On Sep 2018




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"Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research is at present a well-known Indian originated scientific journal which started with a humble beginning. I have been associated with this journal since many years. I appreciate the Editor, Dr. Hemant Jain, for his constant effort in bringing up this journal to the present status right from the scratch. The journal is multidisciplinary. It encourages in publishing the scientific articles from postgraduates and also the beginners who start their career. At the same time the journal also caters for the high quality articles from specialty and super-specialty researchers. Hence it provides a platform for the scientist and researchers to publish. The other aspect of it is, the readers get the information regarding the most recent developments in science which can be used for teaching, research, treating patients and to some extent take preventive measures against certain diseases. The journal is contributing immensely to the society at national and international level."



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Dr. Arundhathi. S
MBBS, MD (Pathology),
Sanjay Gandhi institute of trauma and orthopedics,
Bengaluru.
On Aug 2018




Dr. Mamta Gupta,
"It gives me great pleasure to be associated with JCDR, since last 2-3 years. Since then I have authored, co-authored and reviewed about 25 articles in JCDR. I thank JCDR for giving me an opportunity to improve my own skills as an author and a reviewer.
It 's a multispecialty journal, publishing high quality articles. It gives a platform to the authors to publish their research work which can be available for everyone across the globe to read. The best thing about JCDR is that the full articles of all medical specialties are available as pdf/html for reading free of cost or without institutional subscription, which is not there for other journals. For those who have problem in writing manuscript or do statistical work, JCDR comes for their rescue.
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Reviewing articles is no less a pain staking process and requires in depth perception, knowledge about the topic for review. It requires time and concentration, yet I enjoy doing it. The JCDR website especially for the reviewers is quite user friendly. My suggestions for improving the journal is, more strict review process, so that only high quality articles are published. I find a a good number of articles in Obst. Gynae, hence, a new journal for this specialty titled JCDR-OG can be started. May be a bimonthly or quarterly publication to begin with. Only selected articles should find a place in it.
An yearly reward for the best article authored can also incentivize the authors. Though the process of finding the best article will be not be very easy. I do not know how reviewing process can be improved. If an article is being reviewed by two reviewers, then opinion of one can be communicated to the other or the final opinion of the editor can be communicated to the reviewer if requested for. This will help one’s reviewing skills.
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Dr. Mamta Gupta
Consultant
(Ex HOD Obs &Gynae, Hindu Rao Hospital and associated NDMC Medical College, Delhi)
Aug 2018




Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey

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Writing is the representation of language in a textual medium i e; into the words and sentences on paper. Quality medical manuscript writing in particular, demands not only a high-quality research, but also requires accurate and concise communication of findings and conclusions, with adherence to particular journal guidelines. In medical field whether working in teaching, private, or in corporate institution, everyone wants to excel in his / her own field and get recognised by making manuscripts publication.


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Salient features of the JCDR: It is a biomedical, multidisciplinary (including all medical and dental specialities), e-journal, with wide scope and extensive author support. At the same time, a free text of manuscript is available in HTML and PDF format. There is fast growing authorship and readership with JCDR as this can be judged by the number of articles published in it i e; in Feb 2007 of its first issue, it contained 5 articles only, and now in its recent volume published in April 2011, it contained 67 manuscripts. This e-journal is fulfilling the commitments and objectives sincerely, (as stated by Editor-in-chief in his preface to first edition) i e; to encourage physicians through the internet, especially from the developing countries who witness a spectrum of disease and acquire a wealth of knowledge to publish their experiences to benefit the medical community in patients care. I also feel that many of us have work of substance, newer ideas, adequate clinical materials but poor in medical writing and hesitation to submit the work and need help. JCDR provides authors help in this regards.
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Every one of us: authors, reviewers, editors, and publisher are responsible for enhancing the stature of the journal. I wish for a great success for JCDR."



Thanking you
With sincere regards
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Ghritlaharey, M.S., M. Ch., FAIS
Associate Professor,
Department of Paediatric Surgery, Gandhi Medical College & Associated
Kamla Nehru & Hamidia Hospitals Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh 462 001 (India)
E-mail: drrajendrak1@rediffmail.com
On May 11,2011




Dr. Shankar P.R.

"On looking back through my Gmail archives after being requested by the journal to write a short editorial about my experiences of publishing with the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research (JCDR), I came across an e-mail from Dr. Hemant Jain, Editor, in March 2007, which introduced the new electronic journal. The main features of the journal which were outlined in the e-mail were extensive author support, cash rewards, the peer review process, and other salient features of the journal.
Over a span of over four years, we (I and my colleagues) have published around 25 articles in the journal. In this editorial, I plan to briefly discuss my experiences of publishing with JCDR and the strengths of the journal and to finally address the areas for improvement.
My experiences of publishing with JCDR: Overall, my experiences of publishing withJCDR have been positive. The best point about the journal is that it responds to queries from the author. This may seem to be simple and not too much to ask for, but unfortunately, many journals in the subcontinent and from many developing countries do not respond or they respond with a long delay to the queries from the authors 1. The reasons could be many, including lack of optimal secretarial and other support. Another problem with many journals is the slowness of the review process. Editorial processing and peer review can take anywhere between a year to two years with some journals. Also, some journals do not keep the contributors informed about the progress of the review process. Due to the long review process, the articles can lose their relevance and topicality. A major benefit with JCDR is the timeliness and promptness of its response. In Dr Jain's e-mail which was sent to me in 2007, before the introduction of the Pre-publishing system, he had stated that he had received my submission and that he would get back to me within seven days and he did!
Most of the manuscripts are published within 3 to 4 months of their submission if they are found to be suitable after the review process. JCDR is published bimonthly and the accepted articles were usually published in the next issue. Recently, due to the increased volume of the submissions, the review process has become slower and it ?? Section can take from 4 to 6 months for the articles to be reviewed. The journal has an extensive author support system and it has recently introduced a paid expedited review process. The journal also mentions the average time for processing the manuscript under different submission systems - regular submission and expedited review.
Strengths of the journal: The journal has an online first facility in which the accepted manuscripts may be published on the website before being included in a regular issue of the journal. This cuts down the time between their acceptance and the publication. The journal is indexed in many databases, though not in PubMed. The editorial board should now take steps to index the journal in PubMed. The journal has a system of notifying readers through e-mail when a new issue is released. Also, the articles are available in both the HTML and the PDF formats. I especially like the new and colorful page format of the journal. Also, the access statistics of the articles are available. The prepublication and the manuscript tracking system are also helpful for the authors.
Areas for improvement: In certain cases, I felt that the peer review process of the manuscripts was not up to international standards and that it should be strengthened. Also, the number of manuscripts in an issue is high and it may be difficult for readers to go through all of them. The journal can consider tightening of the peer review process and increasing the quality standards for the acceptance of the manuscripts. I faced occasional problems with the online manuscript submission (Pre-publishing) system, which have to be addressed.
Overall, the publishing process with JCDR has been smooth, quick and relatively hassle free and I can recommend other authors to consider the journal as an outlet for their work."



Dr. P. Ravi Shankar
KIST Medical College, P.O. Box 14142, Kathmandu, Nepal.
E-mail: ravi.dr.shankar@gmail.com
On April 2011
Anuradha

Dear team JCDR, I would like to thank you for the very professional and polite service provided by everyone at JCDR. While i have been in the field of writing and editing for sometime, this has been my first attempt in publishing a scientific paper.Thank you for hand-holding me through the process.


Dr. Anuradha
E-mail: anuradha2nittur@gmail.com
On Jan 2020

Important Notice

Original article / research
Year : 2022 | Month : May | Volume : 16 | Issue : 5 | Page : YC05 - YC08 Full Version

Effect of Foam Rolling along with Self-stretching on Pain and Range of Motion in Plantar Fasciitis Patient- A Quasi-experimental Study


Published: May 1, 2022 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.7860/JCDR/2022/53304.16373
Sunny Yadav, Shikha Malik, Saru Bansal

1. MPT Student, Department of Physiotherapy, Kailash Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. 2. MPT Student, Department of Physiotherapy, Centre for Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Sciences, New Delhi, India. 3. Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Kailash Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Correspondence Address :
Dr. Saru Bansal,
Professor, Department of Physiotherapy, Kailash Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India.
E-mail: sarugarg83@gmail.com

Abstract

Introduction: The most common cause of heel pain is plantar fasciitis. Previous literature suggests that stretching exercise had shown better results in the non surgical treatment options available, due to this technique muscle strength and the force production capacity is reduced. Myofascial release is an alternate technique which can improve Range Of Motion (ROM) and reduce pain without compromising the muscle performance.

Aim: To evaluate the effect of foam rolling along with self-stretching on pain and ROM in plantar fasciitis patients.

Materials and Methods: This quasi-experimental study was conducted between May 2020 to May 2021, at Kailash Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Thirty participants with plantar fasciitis meeting the inclusion criteria of age between 24-60 years were included and allocated into two groups by convenience sampling. Group A received self-stretching of calf and plantar fascia whereas group B received foam rolling along with self-stretching of calf and plantar fascia for three weeks. Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Weight Bearing Lunge Test (WBLT) were recorded at baseline and by the end of 3rd week for both the groups to measure pain and ankle ROM. Data was analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 statistical software. The independent sample t-test was used for intergroup comparison and student’s paired t-test was utilised for within group comparison. The statistical difference significance was set at p-value <0.05 for all the test performed.

Results: Within group analysis has shown that there was a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in all the outcome measures in both the groups. The between-group analysis showed no statistically significant difference in VAS (p=0.405) however significant difference were found in WBLT (p=0.003).

Conclusion: The present study proved that both self-stretching and foam rolling with self-stretching showed significant improvement on pain and increasing ROM in plantar fasciitis. However, effectiveness of foam rolling with self-stretching was superior to self-stretching in terms of increasing WBLT.

Keywords

Heel pain, Visual analog scale, Weight bearing lunge test

The most commonly known cause of heel pain is plantar fasciitis, which is seen around in 10% of non athletic and athletic population. Plantar fasciitis is commonly considered as the degeneration of the plantar fascia and could be classified as “fasciosis” or “fasciopath” (1). The most common clinical signs are first step pain after a period of rest, local tenderness mostly over the medial calcaneum, decreased pain after some activity and decreased ROM to some extent at ankle joint (2). The calf muscle plays a role in the development of plantar fasciitis as it becomes tight and reduce the dorsiflexion movement at ankle joint (3). As the condition becomes chronic it affects the quality of life of a person including the general health, foot specific quality, reduction in the physical activities, isolation from the society and less energetic to participate in the activities. The biomechanical alterations are because of the calf muscle tightness which leads to excessive tensile forces on the planter fascia during the stance phase (2). The treatment option available for plantar fasciitis has a wide range and variety. Some physiotherapy treatment options are stretching and strengthening exercise, manual therapy, proper foot wear, orthotic devices, electrotherapy (1),(2),(4). Non Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs (NSAIDS) and local corticosteroid injections may be recommended by the physicians (4).

Based on the previous literature findings, stretching exercises had shown the better results among all the available non surgical treatment options (2),(5). Stretching exercise have some advantages over the other treatments as it is time saving for the patient, a low cost treatment, and it can be practiced at any place or time by the patient itself. It is found that the achilles tendon stretching along with the plantar fascia stretching has almost the double effect on the pain reduction and the improvement in the dorsiflexion range of movement at ankle joint when compared with the achilles tendon stretching alone (6). Thus, static stretching is recommended for the pain reduction and increase flexibility but it is found that static stretching is associated with decreased muscle strength and immediate sporting activities or movements (7),(8).

Myofascial release or Self-Myofascial Release (SMR) is an alternate treatment option available and known for increasing flexibility and pain reduction and that too without compromising the muscle strength and force production ability. With the gaining popularity, the SMR methods like using foam roller has significantly increase the flexibility, improve arterial function, improvement in vascular endothelial function, reduction in arterial stiffness (9) and decrease in soreness of muscle (10) which makes their use more popular in general population as well as athletic population.

The Golgi Tendon Organ (GTO) reflex arc model and other mechanoreceptors are the possible mechanisms to increase fascia flexibility using SMR. As there is an increase in the pressure on the fascia by the SMR, the GTOs are stimulated and there is a reduction in the firing rate of motor unit which is responsible for reduction of muscle tone (11),(12).

However, it is unclear that how long the acute effect of SMR lasts but is shown in previous studies that it lasts atleast for 10 minutes (7),(13),(14). Jay K et al., 2014 found that there is no significant difference in flexibility at 30 minutes after the treatment between fascial release and control group (14). It was also postulated in previous study that there is a reduction in the pain immediately after the intervention but for how long this effect can last and whether it will be beneficial for patient in home-based rehabilitation on a long run is still unclear (13). Therefore, it was hypothesised that foam rolling with self-stretching can be effective in plantar fasciitis in a home-based rehabilitation. Hence, this study was undertaken to assess the effect of foam rolling along with self-stretching on pain and ROM in plantar-fasciitis patients.

Material and Methods

This quasi-experimental study was conducted at Kailash Institute of Nursing and Paramedical Sciences, Greater Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India, from May 2020 to May 2021. An Ethical Clearance was obtained from the Institutional Review Board before the commencement of the study (Ref no. KI/MPT/19/044). Prior written explanation was given to the patients about the study and consent was obtained for participating in the study.

Inclusion criteria: Participants with age between 24-60 years having symptoms of heel pain and clinical feature such as medial calcaneal pain, morning first step pain, tenderness on medial calcaneal and symptoms decreases with activity and increases with rest were included in the study.

Exclusion criteria: Patients with any other musculoskeletal condition or disorder such as inflammatory joint disorder, abnormal sensation of lower extremities were excluded from the study.

A total of 30 participants were screened for plantar fasciitis and they were assigned to either group A (self-stretching) or group B (foam rolling with self-stretching) by convenience sampling.

Group A: Self-stretching Group

Calf muscles: In standing position, the affected foot is placed away from the wall, then subject was asked to lean forward and making sure not to lift the heel from the floor (Table/Fig 1). To focus on the stretching of soleus, the affected leg was placed backward with knee bent whereas for the gastrocnemius, the affected leg was kept backward with knee in full extension. Subjects were asked to maintain this position till 30 second, until they feel stretch (15).

Plantar fascia: This stretching was performed in sitting position with affected foot placed over the other side thigh. Subjects were asked to place one hand over the base of toes and other at the heel and pull the toes towards shin slowly until they feel stretch at plantar fascia. The intensity of the stretch was increased as tolerable by the individual subject. This stretch was also maintained for 30 sec. (15). All the patients are asked to do 3 sets of 30 sec and 2 times a day for both the muscles. This procedure was continued for three weeks and the measurements were taken after three weeks.

Group B: Foam Rolling with Self-stretching Group

Calf muscles: The subjects were in long sitting position with the affected leg extended on the foam roller and foot relaxed. The non affected leg was used for the support purpose with placed on ground with knee flexed in a comfortable position (Table/Fig 2). Instructions were given to use their hands and non affected leg or opposite side leg to roll the foam roller from popliteal fossa to achilles tendon (7).

Plantar fascia: In this subject were in standing position with the affected foot on the foam roller and the non affected foot on the floor (Table/Fig 3). The subjects were instructed to do a back-and-forth motion from heel to toes of foot on foam roller while exerting pressure on the foam roller (7).

The self-stretching was performed in a similar manner to that of self-stretching group. Three sets of 30 sec for each muscle was performed once a day and same sets of self-stretching once a day for three weeks. This was done to equalise the number of sets and repetition of both the groups to make result fair for both groups.

Outcome Measures

Outcome measures were assessed at baseline and by the end of 3rd week after intervention.

Pain: Pain intensity was measured by VAS. It is a 10 cm long horizontal line with no pain and worst pain possible both ends on line respectively (1).

ROM: ROM of ankle dorsiflexion was measured by WBLT. In this test, the subjects were made to stand on the measurement tape placed perpendicular to the wall to measure the linear distance between big toe and the wall (Table/Fig 4). Subjects were given instruction to lunge their knee towards the wall to make contact without lifting their heel (7). It has been shown that this test has high inter-rater and intra-rater reliabilities [intra-rater ICC=0:97-0:98; inter-rater ICC=0.97 (angle) and 0.99 (distance)] (16).

Statistical Analysis

The collected data was analysed using statistical software, SPSS (IBM SPSS, version 16.0, NY: IBM Corp) for windows 10 Home edition. The normality of the collected data was verified using Shapiro-Wilk test. Gender and the affected side were analysed using Chi-square test. As the demographic data of the participants follow normal distribution, all the values of the descriptive statistics were expressed in terms of the mean and Standard Deviation (SD). To evaluate the mean difference between the groups, independent sample t-test was used. The within group analyses for all the outcome measures were analysed using Student’s paired t-test. The level of significance was set at ≤0.05.

Results

The flow chart (Table/Fig 5) shows the progress of participants at each stage of the study. A total number of 12 males (40%) and 18 females (60%) have participated in the study. The mean age of participants in self-stretching group was (40.53±7.72 years) and in foam roller with self-stretching group (37.73±8.22 years) was found to be statistically insignificant (p=0.34). There were no statistically significant difference in age, gender, height, weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and affected side in both groups, suggesting that the both groups were homogeneous with respect to those baseline values and comparison of the result was reasonable (p>0.05) (Table/Fig 6). After the analysis, it was found that within-group analysis showed all the outcome measures (VAS, WBLT) had statistically significant difference (p<0.001) in both the groups (Table/Fig 7),(Table/Fig 8). The between-group analysis showed no significant difference for VAS (p=0.405) however, statistically significant difference was found for WBLT (p=0.003) (Table/Fig 9).

Discussion

The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of foam rolling with self-stretching compared to self-stretching alone on pain and ROM in patients with plantar fasciitis. The study showed that both self-stretching as well as foam rolling with self-stretching is effective in reducing pain and improving ROM in plantar fasciitis individuals. These findings were similar with the results of Ranbhor AR et al., Cheatham SW et al., who showed that patients with plantar fasciitis have benefitted with both self-stretching and foam rolling techniques (1),(17).

In the present study, it was found that stretching had a significant effect in the reduction of pain. The reduction of pain may be due to Golgi tendon organ (GTO) stimulation which results in inhibition of alpha motor neurons pathway, which results in the relaxation of the muscle (6),(18),(19). The failure of collagen bonds at the microstructural level are also responsible for reduction of pain and stiffness by altering the length of musculotendinous unit (8), (20). Stretching also had a significant effect in increasing the WBLT score and thus improving ROM. Stretching causes change in the viscoelastic properties of the musculotendinous unit and make it to relax and lengthen. The reduction in the perception of pain could also be the reason for the increased ROM (21).

The present study also showed that foam rolling with self-stretching had a significant effect in the reduction of the pain. The increased blood flow to the muscles results in removal of the waste products which are responsible for pain reduction. It also activates the cutaneous receptors which are responsible for blocking of nociceptive stimulus. Foam rolling also causes a noticeable reduction in the tissue adhesions and stiffness which causes increase in muscle tendon compliance. Due to this there is a decrease in the cortisol level and increase in the dopamine and serotonin levels, which are responsible for pain reduction (22),(23).

It is also found that foam rolling with self-stretching improved ROM. This is possibly because of the change in fascia properties. The frictional movement between the foam roller and fascia tissues causes a warming effect on the fascia, resulting in breakage of adhesions due to which extensibility and flexibility of fascia is restored (24). The foam roller causes back and forth motion of soft tissues and causes pressure on it which causes overloading of the cutaneous receptors. The end result of the friction created between foam roller, fascia and muscle is a stretch which may decrease the sensations of stretch end points (25), (26). These findings are in line with study which stated that foam rolling was effective in increasing ROM (17). Further additional studies are needed to provide more information about the effect of foam rolling along with self-stretching on muscle strength in plantar fasciitis. Future studies can be conducted to see the long-term effects of foam-rolling along with self-stretching in plantar fasciitis.

Limitation(s)

A small sample size affected the generalisability of result. Patients might have poor compliance towards exercise which can affect the result. This study lacked control group.

Conclusion

Stretching was effective in reducing the pain and increasing ROM but stretching when performed with foam roller was more effective and had a significant effect on improving ROM as compared to stretching alone.

References

1.
Ranbhor AR, Prabhakar AJ, Eapen C. Immediate effect of foam roller on pain and ankle range of motion in patients with plantar fasciitis: A randomized controlled trial. Hong Kong Physiother J. 2020;41(1):01-09. [crossref] [PubMed]
2.
Boonchum H, Bovonsunthonchai S, Sinsurin K, Kunanusornchai W. Effect of a homebased stretching exercise on multisegmental foot motion and clinical outcomes in patients with plantar fasciitis. J Musculoskelet Neuronal Interact. 2020;20(3):411-20.
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DOI and Others

DOI: 10.7860/JCDR/2022/53304.16373

Date of Submission: Nov 16, 2021
Date of Peer Review: Jan 19, 2022
Date of Acceptance: Mar 2, 2022
Date of Publishing: May 01, 2022

Author declaration:
• Financial or Other Competing Interests: None
• Was Ethics Committee Approval obtained for this study? Yes
• Was informed consent obtained from the subjects involved in the study? Yes
• For any images presented appropriate consent has been obtained from the subjects. Yes

PLAGIARISM CHECKING METHODS:
• Plagiarism X-checker: Nov 17, 2021
• Manual Googling: Feb 28, 2022
• iThenticate Software: Apr 16, 2022 (16%)

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