Background: Plantar fasciitis is the most prevalent cause of heel pain in people encountered in primary care. Standing and running for long periods of time typically strain the plantar fascia. Plantar fasciitis can be caused by a variety of reasons, the most prevalent of which is overuse stress. The characteristic symptom is a strong pain in the plantar aponeurosis (near its insertion on the medial process). Objective: To find out the prevalence of plantar fasciitis and contributing factors in patients visiting physical therapy center of secondary care hospital. Methodology: An observational cross-sectional study was conducted on 359 patients visiting physical therapy center of secondary care hospital through non-probability convenient sampling approach. Subjects who met the inclusion and exclusion criteria were selected. Planter fasciitis pain scale were used as an outcome measure which contained questions to assess how pain affected common physical activities. Data were entered and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) software version 24.0. Chi-square was used to describe the results. Results: Out of 359 participants of age above 20 years, average age was 27.9 ± 8.30, Mean and SD of height, weight and BMI was 5.59 ± 0.67, 64.41± 11.83, and 24.97± 4.10, respectively. Among 359 participants, 157 (43.7) of them had normal foot while 202 (56.3) were presented with planter fasciitis, 108 of them were females and 94 were males. There was a significant positive correlation between planter fasciitis and contributing factors of plantar fasciitis in participants as the p-value was significant (p<0.05). Conclusion(s): Plantar fasciitis is a common and disabling condition in patients visiting physical therapy center and it has a significant impact on one's quality of life. Long periods of walking or standing were linked to an increased chance of developing plantar fasciitis. Age, Gender, Weight, BMI and employment status were also associated with plantar fasciitis.

Cross sectional study, prevalence, plantar fasciitis, contributing factors