Abstract:Objective: To investigate whether the efficacy of radial extracorporeal shockwave therapy (rESWT) for plantar fasciitis (PF) could be improved owing to the guidance of soft tissue surgery theory. Methods: 60 patients with PF were randomly divided into 2 groups with 30 patients in each group. The experimental group received rESWT in the hip, thigh root and heel, and the control group only received rESWT in the heel, once every 7 days, a total of 4 times. Numerical rating scale(NRS) and MaryLand scores were used to evaluate the degree of pain and foot function before the 1st treatment, before the 4th treatment, and 1 month, 3 months and 6 months after 4 treatments. Results: The NRS and MaryLand scores after rESWT treatments in both groups were significantly improved compared with those before the 1st rESWT treatment in the same group(P<0.05). The NRS and MaryLand scores of the patients in experimental group were superior to those in control group after the 1st treatments(P<0.05). Conclusion: rESWT can improve both pain degree and foot function of patients with PF, the efficacy of rESWT in the hip, thigh root and heel is superior to that only in the heel.