Back ground: A foot orthosis with medial arch support is often used as conservative therapy for metatarsalsia of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, some patients complain discomforts of patient with metatarsalgia of RA often complicate ankle disorders.In our previous study, the remission score of the severity index significantly improved in the participants wearing the arch support with ankle strapping band compared with that found in the group wearing the shoe inserted arch support. However, a possible limitation of the previous study was that there was no placebo group of patients who were treated only with the ankle strapping band. In this study, the efficacy of arch support with ankle strapping band and the arch support without band as a placebo orthosis.
Methods: Forty three outpatients with metatarsalgia of RA were treated with an orthosis for four weeks. The Foot function index (FFI) at the final assessment was compared with that at baseline in both the arch support and placebo band groups.
Results: All participants in both groups completed the four week study. Participants wearing arch support with ankle strapping (n=22) demonstrated significantly improved FFI values in comparison with their baseline assessments (P<0.0001). These significant differences were not found in the placebo band group (n=21), (P=0.21).
Conclusion. The efficacy of a concomitant ankle strapping band when wearing an arch support will not be only stabilizes the ankle joint, but the pulling upwards is also helpful for the correction of arch height by arch support, resulting in an improvement of clinical outcome in patients with metatarsalgia of RA.
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