The Fascial Manipulation Method is a cycle of articles dedicated to the understanding of themost common dysfunctions we meet during our clinical practice, specifically theirmanifestation and treatment with Fascial Manipulation. FM specialists report clinical cases,accurately describing their symptomatology, the chosen work plan and the resultsobtained, thanks to the treatment. For privacy reasons, the names of the patients have been changed.
Today’s article is dedicated to the treatment of bilateral heel pain. Luca Peron is a fascial therapist. He will discuss this topic.
“Matteo is a waiter, 36 years old and a former taekwondo practitioner. He reports bilateral heel pain of 2 months with involvement of the Achilles tendon. Moreover, he reports a feeling of a “stiff ankle”. His symptomatology is always present, worsening in the early hours of the day—specifically during initial movements—and at the end of the working day. On presentation, he reports a VRS 6-8 in his left heel and a VRS 7 on the right one, during the worst times. He reports pain in the entire foot, with pain radiation along the Achilles tendon and triceps surae.
His clinical history reveals no previous pain or trauma connected to the current pain. He has done some magnet therapy, TECAR therapy, osteopathic treatment and applications of some pain-relieving ointments, without any appreciable results.
During Movement Verification I can see that he is not able to stand on tiptoe or dorsal flex his feet. Furthermore, all the directions of movement of the pes and talus segment are painful.
During Palpation Verification evaluation of the pes segment, I find the Ante and Retro points very painful. Since there is a pain radiation towards the talus segment, I decide to evaluate the talus, finding the Ante and Retro points very painful (An Ta **, Re Ta ***).
We start the treatment with Re Ta, Re Pe, An Ta. After treatment of the first point, the patient reports a significant decrease in pain during the standing position, with a VRS 4. After the treatment of the other two points, the pain is decreased to VRS 2. The patient reports a feeling of less rigidity at his ankles and he is able to standing on tiptoe, albeit with some difficulty.
The patient returns to my clinic the next day for some recommendations regarding workout and stretching exercises to be done during the most painful moments of the day in the hope of relieving the pain. Sometime later he reports the complete disappearance of the pain. He states he is satisfied with the results obtained although a bit upset that he did not try this method first.
The Fascial Manipulation treatment has cured the patient’s pain in only one session, allowing him to continue his job without any lower extremity related problems”.