Introduction/Objective: To identify and evaluate the evidence for the treatment of plantar heel pain. To establish the effectiveness of commonly used treatments for painful heel syndrome compared with untreated control and other available treatments as far as could be established from existing trials.

Methods: Randomised controlled trials on methods of treatment were sought as other studies do address known and unknown biases in the estimation of the impact of treatments. Studies on the subject were traced using, optimally sensitive electronic searches, handsearches of Podiatry journals, checking reference lists of located articles & contacting lead authors, obtaining dissertation bibliographies from UK schools of Podiatry, direct approach to pharmaceutical industry/equipment manufacturers to request published/unpublished trials, identification by Cochrane Musculo-skeletal Injuries Group. Two reviewers (FC & DA) independently applied the exclusion criteria to each study using a pilot quality assessment tool, based on the following criteria, a) Adequate description of study population, interventions, outcome measures, study procedure loss to follow up & methods of analysis. b) Methods used to allocate treatment & assessment of allocation concealment. c) Description of blinding & evidence of success in trial investigators, participants & outcome assessors. d) Clear presentation of patient flow. e) Analysis: reportage of out comes with regard to primary outcome measures. Report of trial outcomes within context of prior hypothesis. f) Compatibility of conclusions with the trial results as presented.

Results: One hundred and twenty one papers on the treatment of plantar heel pain were found. One hundred and eighteen of these fell into the exclusion criteria leaving three truly randomised double blind controlled trials.

Discussion: There is a need for more randomised controlled trials into the efficacy of treatments currently available for this condition.