A study on 67 patients with medically unresponsive foot pain (despite treatment by such methods as orthotics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication, analgesics, physical therapy, exercise, local injections of steroids and analgesics and surgery) showed that acupuncture provided complete relief of symptoms in 31 cases and better than 75% relief in 19. The points found to be most effective were Taibai SP-3, Sanyinjiao SP-6, Kunlun BL-60, Shugu BL-65 and Taichong LIV-3. The authors from the Departments of Podiatry and Pediatrics at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Richmond, California, suggest that acupuncture should be considered as a first line treatment for foot pain of over 3 months duration and that surgery for foot pain should not undertaken without a prior trial of acupuncture.

Acupuncture in Medicine, Vol X1V, No2, November 1996.