The Effect of Microcurrent-Inducing Shoes on Fatigue and Pain in Middle-Aged People with Plantar Fascitis

抄録

When a muscle is used repeatedly for a long time, it often leads to muscular fatigue and muscle soreness. In middle-aged and elderly populations, muscular fatigue and pain during the performance of activities of daily living is a common problem caused by physiological changes in the musculoskeletal system due to the aging process. Microcurrent therapy has been shown to be effective at reducing pain and muscle soreness. For activities such as standing or walking, specially developed shoes (G-man, Busan, South Korea) which are capable of providing microcurrent therapy during the performance of these activities are an advantage as the treatment becomes integrated with the activity being performed. These therapeutic shoes or microcurrent induction shoes could be potentially useful for providing treatment if they were worn during normal activities. The purpose of this study, therefore, was to investigate the effect of these microcurrent induction shoes on pain and muscle fatigue in middle-aged people with plantar fascitis. Subjects were asked to wear their normal shoes and instructed to walk on a treadmill at 2 and 3 km/hr for 10 minutes each. Subjects were then asked to wear the specially designed microcurrent induction shoes for six weeks for at least 4 hours per day during ADL activities such as standing and walking. During the initial evaluation and at the end of the 6 weeks intervention, the electromyographic (EMG) activity of their right tibialis anterior and soleus muscles were recorded, together with their perceived level of foot pain using a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS). The results showed a significant reduction in their VAS scores (p<0.01), and the change in median power frequency of their tibialis anterior EMG recording (p<0.05). In conclusion, this study demonstrated that microcurrent induction shoes were effective in relieving foot pain and muscle fatigue in subjects with plantar fascitis.