Comparison of Iontophoresis and Agnikarma for the management of plantar fasciitis: Two case reports

Plantar fasciitis represents the fourth most common orthopaedic complain which requires professional care. The typical presentation of Plantar Fasciitis is sharp pain localized at the heel and plantar surface of the foot. As per the textual references the features of Pada-kantak can be accurately correlated with Plantar Fasciitis. Acharyas has mentioned Agnikarmaas a treatment modality for Pada-kantak. Iontophoresis is also considered as one of the treatment modalities for Plantar Fasciitis now a days. Although these two techniques are vastly different, there is a lack of evidence to determine which one is better. Two cases of Plantar Fasciitis are presented here to illustrate the contrasting techniques and their results. Both the cases were treated with different modalities, one with Iontophoresis with 0.4% Dexamethas one and other by Agnikarma with Panchdhatu Lauha Shalaka. They were followed up for 2 months to assess their outcomes. The case studies revealed that Agnikarma produces a better outcome than Iontophoresis as reoccurrence was noticed in the later method.