Abstract
Objective
This controlled study was designed to explore the effectiveness of foot orthotics in solving problems of the feet and other parts of the lower extremities and to reduce low back pain.
Methods
Thirty-two subjects (24 males) were recruited and randomly assigned into 3 study groups. There were 10 subjects in the chiropractic care plus orthotics group, 14 subjects in the orthotics group, and 8 in the control group. All subjects filled out a patient information sheet and pre-screening foot pain questionnaire. Foot orthotics information was collected and the data was sent to Foot Level-ers, Inc. for orthotic fabrication. Chiropractic treatment was performed using Activator Technique. In-home exercise was prescribed to subjects receiving orthotics and chiropractic care.
Results
The control group did not experience much change during the testing period. The orthotics group showed improvement in symptoms (P = 0.053), activities of daily living (P = 0.058), sport and recreation (P = 0.186) and quality of life (P = 0.085). While trends were apparent, the improvements did not reach statistically significant levels. In contrast, there was no trend with pain (P = 0.492). The orthotics plus chiropractic group showed improvement in the four conditions over the study period. Greater improvement was seen in quality of life (P < 0.05), symptoms (P < 0.05) and activities of daily living (P < 0.05), which were statistically significant. Improvement was also seen in sports and recreation but it did not reach statistical significant level (P = 0.097).
Conclusion
This study showed that a combination of chiropractic care and orthotics improved symptoms, activities of daily living, sport and recreation and quality of life in workers whose job requires them to stand at least 6 hours daily.
Key Indexing Terms: Chiropractic, Orthotic Devices
Footnotes
Sources of support: Footlevelers, Inc. provided the orthotics used in this study.
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