Drop Foot Disease

Drop foot-also called foot drop-is a condition in which you cannot raise your foot at the ankle, flex your toes toward the body, or turn your foot outward. Drop foot is not a disease but is a symptom of another problem.

Common Cause

• Drop foot is often caused by injury to or compression of the peroneal nerve, which is a branch of the sciatic nerve and runs on the outside of the lower leg into the ankle, foot, and first two toes. Most often, the problem occurs where the peroneal nerve passes by the head of the tibia-a lower leg bone. Other possibilities are sciatic nerve injury in the lower back, nerve root trauma caused by sacroiliac joint dislocations and fractures, or a herniated disc compressing the nerve root at the fifth lumbar vertebrae in the lower back.

Other Causes

• Muscle or nerve disorders can also cause drop foot, including muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), multiple sclerosis, stroke, or compartment syndrome, which is compression of nerves and blood vessels in an enclosed space.

Diagnosis

• A doctor usually diagnoses foot drop with a physical exam. Sometimes the doctor may order magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to see a cross-sectional image of the area. He might also consider electromyography (EMG) as well as nerve conduction studies to measure electrical activity in muscles and nerves.

Treatment

• Treatment for foot drop depends on the underlying cause, so determining this cause will be the doctor's first priority. Possible treatments include braces or splints on your ankle and foot, physical therapy to strengthen your leg muscles and help you maintain the range of motion, nerve stimulation, or surgery. (Reference 2)

Preparing To See The Doctor

• Before seeing the doctor, people with drop foot should gather information that will help in the diagnosis. This includes a list of all medications being taken, personal information including recent life changes or stress, and all symptoms being experienced, whether they seem related to the drop foot or not.