Plantar fasciitis (PF; also known as “plantar heel pain”) is a common foot disorder in adults secondary to an inflammatory response caused by repetitive micro-trauma.⁽¹⁾a localized inflammation of the plantar aponeurosis, is reported to be the most common cause of heel pain. An estimated 1 in 10 people will develop the condition over a lifetime.⁽²⁾ Complaint is usually of an insidious sharp pain in the medial heel along the medial plantar fascia at the insertion at the medial tuberosity of the calcaneum on weight bearing after a period of non-weight bearing.⁽³⁾Typically, this pain is described as “burning”, “aching” and, occasionally, “lancinating”.⁽¹⁾ The typical pain of PF is located at the hindfoot,⁽⁴⁾ medial tubercle of the calcaneus and normally occurs during the first few steps in the morning or after a prolonged non-weight bearing activity.⁽⁵⁾ And can often be a challenge for clinicians to treat successfully. It occurs over a wide age range and is seen in both sedentary and athletic individuals.^(4,6) PF may affect >1 million people worldwide per year. The exact prevalence of PF is not known. The lifetime prevalence may reach 10% of the general population worldwide. Affect all the age groups, sexes, and ethnicities, with a higher prevalence noted in females aged 40–60 years. ⁽¹⁾ There is no clear consensus on the etiology of plantar fasciitis, but overuse due to prolonged weightbearing or unaccustomed activity, obesity, and limited dorsiflexion range of motion have all been implicated as contributing factors.⁽²⁾  After the initial inflammatory response and repetitive micro-trauma of plantar aponeurosis, myxoid degeneration with PF fragmentation as well as vascular ectasia in bone marrow, are the most common histologic findings. Therefore, PF may be considered a degenerative fasciosis in the absence of inflammation.⁽¹⁾  Plantar heel pain also results in mild disability and decrease in quality of life of an individual.⁽³⁾ . Diagnosis of PF can be made through the patient history, clinical symptoms, and objective assessments such as pain level, palpation, muscle tightness, joint range of motion, or muscle strength. In addition, diagnostic imaging may be used to exclude other causes of pain such as heel spurs or tissue inflammation.⁽⁵⁾ . Patients with PF who have painful episodes at the heel commonly avoid weight bearing on the symptomatic foot and are at risk for developing antalgic gait. Patients with PF tend to walk more slowly than healthy individuals in order to avoid or reduce pain. They show significant decreases in cadence, gait speed, stride length, and increases in stride time.⁽⁵⁾ Conservative treatments for PF usually include rest, anti-inflammatory drugs, shoe inserts, shoe wear modification, stretching exercises, and physical therapy. Examples of physical therapy are massage, mobilization, therapeutic ultrasound, and taping.⁽⁵⁾

The foot is a highly complex structure with many articulations and multiple degrees of freedom that play an important role in static posture and dynamic activities.^(9,10) The foot core system consists of a complex foot structure, including active, passive, and neural subsystems, providing stability and flexibility when coping with changing foot demands.⁽¹¹⁾ The theoretical basis of lumbopelvic-hip core stability is applied to the foot core system.⁽¹²⁾The passive subsystem of the foot core consists of the bones, ligaments and joint capsules that maintain the various arches of the foot. The active subsystem consists of the muscles and tendons that attach on the foot. The local stabilizers of the foot are the plantar intrinsic muscles that both originate and insert on the foot, whereas the global movers are the extrinsic muscles that originate in the lower leg, cross the ankle and insert on the foot. The neural subsystem consists of the sensory receptors in the plantar fascia, ligaments, joint capsules, muscles and tendons involved in the active and passive subsystems. ⁽⁹⁾ The intrinsic foot muscles and extrinsic foot muscles, which constitute the foot active subsystem, also play an active role in maintaining foot core stability.