Table 4 Summary of findings for individual sonoelastography studies

Gatz et al., 2020 [28]

PHP = 39, Control = 20

PHP participants had significantly lower Young’s modulus values at the fascia insertion (mean 46.3 kPa, SD 5.5) compared to control participants (mean 87.6 kPa, SD 22.6).

Lee et al., 2014 [50]

PHP = 18, Control = 18

16 (89%) PHP participants had the presence of plantar fascia softening compared to only 9 (59%) of the control participants.

Rios-Diaz et al., 2015 [37]

PHP = 21, Control = 23

72.6% of fascias were of intermediate stiffness with no association with PHP.

Schillizzi et al., 2020 [24]

PHP = 19, Control = 20

PHP participants had significantly lower shear wave velocity expressed in meters/second (SWV m/s) (median 3.8 m/s, IQR 1.5 to 5.1) compared to control participants (median 5.1 m/s, IQR 3.0 to 6.9).

Sconfienza et al., 2013 [38]

PHP = 80, Control = 50

PHP participants’ fascia were less elastic than control participants’ fascia (median elasticity values 11 and 7, respectively, where a higher score indicates less elasticity).

Wu et al., 2011 [44]

PHP = 13, Control = 40

PHP participants had significantly less red (hard) pixel intensity (measured on a scale from 0 to 255) in the fascia compared to older control participants (mean 133.7, SD 13.4 compared with mean 147.8, SD 10.3, respectively).

Wu et al., 2015 [51]

PHP = 30, Control = 30

Participants with unilateral PHP had significantly less red (more elastic) pixel intensity (range 0–255) compared to control participants (mean 127.1, SD 7.4 to mean 146.9, SD 9.1, respectively).