Evidence map›Paper›PMID 29740617›Full record

ArticleContemporary clinical trials communications2017

Corticosteroid injections compared to foot orthoses for plantar heel pain: protocol for the SOOTHE heel pain randomised trial.

Glen A Whittaker, Shannon E Munteanu, Hylton B Menz, Ayman Elzarka, Karl B Landorf

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Contemporary clinical trials communications, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
0.8field-weighted citation impact, top 25% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Injected corticosteroids for treating plantar heel pain in adults.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2017
    Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Glen A WhittakerDiscipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.
Shannon E MunteanuDiscipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.
Hylton B MenzDiscipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.
Ayman ElzarkaSouthern Cross Medical Imaging, La Trobe Private Hospital, Bundoora, Victoria, 3083, Australia.
Karl B LandorfDiscipline of Podiatry, School of Allied Health, La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, 3086, Australia.
La Trobe University · AU

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

introductionCorticosteroid injections and foot orthoses are common interventions for plantar heel pain. Previous clinical trials have found that the effectiveness of these interventions differs over time, with corticosteroid injections being more effective in the short-term (i.e. 0-4 weeks) and foot orthoses more effective in the longer-term (i.e. 5-12 weeks). However, some of these trials have methodological weaknesses that could have caused confounding and bias, which may have led to over- or under-estimation of the effectiveness of these interventions. As a result, there is a need to compare the effectiveness of corticosteroid injections and foot orthoses in a robust clinical trial with an appropriate follow-up time.

methodsThis article describes the protocol for a pragmatic, parallel-group assessor-blinded randomised trial (Steroid injection versus foot orthoses (SOOTHE) heel pain trial). One hundred participants with plantar heel pain will be randomly allocated (i.e. two groups of approximately 50) to receive either an ultrasound-guided corticosteroid injection or prefabricated foot orthoses. Outcome measures will be obtained at baseline, 4, 8 and 12 weeks, with two primary endpoints at 4 and 12 weeks to reflect the hypothesised temporal effects of each intervention. The primary outcome measure will be the

trial registrationAustralian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry number ACTRN12615001266550.

Indexed as

CorticosteroidsFootOrthosesPHP, plantar heel painPlantar fasciitisRandomized controlled trial

Identifiers

PMID29740617
PMCPMC5936710
OpenAlexW2553087264

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.