Windlass Taping Technique for Symptomatic Relief of Plantar Fasciitis

Context: Windlass taping is used to reduce pain in plantar fasciitis and thought to take stress off the plantar fascia. Objective: To investigate the effects of windlass taping. Design: Single group, repeated measures. Setting: Outpatient physical therapy clinics. Patients: 20 subjects with plantar fasciitis. Intervention: Windlass taping technique. Main Outcome Measures: Pretaping and posttaping measures included pain levels using a visual analog scale (VAS), resting-stance calcaneal position, tibial position, and navicular height. Fifteen also reported a VAS after wearing the tape for 24 h. Results: Median VAS score 37 mm pretape and 6 mm immediately posttape and 24 h later. Wilcoxon matched-pairs signed ranks test significant (P = .001) for reduction in pain scores. Paired t tests significant (P = .01) for a difference between means of pretaping and posttaping measurements for resting-stance positions. Conclusions: Windlass taping decreased pain in patients with plantar fasciitis and caused small changes in resting-stance positions.