How to Diagnose a Foot Drop

Foot drop (also sometimes called drop foot) is a term that describes difficulty in lifting the front part of your foot. It can also show up as dragging your foot as you walk. Foot drop is not a disease in itself but a symptom of an underlying problem in your neurological or muscular system. This condition can be either temporary or permanent, depending on the underlying cause of drop foot. If you think that you have drop foot, follow the steps below to have it diagnosed.

Instructions

• 1

  Recognize foot drop symptoms. Do you have trouble lifting the front part of your foot? When you walk, your foot might drag on the floor or slap down each time you take a step.You may also experience numbness, pain or weakness in the affected foot. Foot drop usually affects only one foot, but it may affect both feet, depending on the cause.

• 2

  Explain your foot drop symptoms to your doctor. He will want to know all about your medical history and if you have had any recent medical events, such as a stroke or seizure. He will do a thorough physical exam and ask you to walk for him so that he can see the foot drop in action.

• 3

  Have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan done on the affected foot and your brain. Your doctor may schedule one. It is similar to an X-ray, except it provides a more detailed picture of tissue than an X-ray does. An MRI allows the doctor to examine the structures in your brain and in the affected foot without performing any invasive procedures.

• 4

  Undergo an electromyogram (EMG) to measure the nerve activity in the affected foot. This can give your doctor a better idea of how your brain and your affected foot are communicating.

• 5

  Make sure your doctor takes into account the symptoms, your medical history and your test results. He will then make a clinical diagnosis based on the abundance of information presented.