UFAI featured on ABC News

Heel pain is one of the most common foot and ankle ailments and treatment for this painful condition can be just as excruciating. But now, there's a new technology that doctors at University Foot and Ankle are testing, a device that doesn't involve injections or surgery.

In this segment of ABC News, Dr. Bob Baravarian treats Doris Kotake of Thousand Oaks. Doris has been struggling with a painful case of heel pain for 13 years.

Dr. Bob Baravarian said Kotake is suffering from plantar fasciitis, a thickening and formation of scar tissue that is progressive and occurs in the plantar fascia. The plantar fascia is the thick ligament that runs on the bottom of her heel that supports the arch.

Kotake has tried multiple other treatment options including platelet-rich plasma and amniotic fluid injections. Even surgery didn’t help, but thankfully, Dr. Baravarian now has something new to offer her. It's a high-frequency ultrasound that helps repair musculo-skeletal injuries.

The clinical trial involves two 5-minute treatments that are about a month apart. “The microscopic injury that we cause needs to be protected so that it heals without scar tissue formation. So the patients will wear a boot for about two weeks,” Dr. Baravarian explained.

While a recent Arizona study on this new technology showed an 81 percent success rate in plantar fasciitis patients, Dr. Baravarian expects the local study results will be even better. Podiatric researchers said all patients with heel pain are candidates, and if the device gets approved, doctors expect it to be much more affordable than surgery and other invasive treatments.