Exercises that strengthen your leg muscles and help you maintain the range of motion in your knee and ankle might improve gait problems associated with foot drop. Stretching exercises are particularly important to prevent the stiffness in the heel.
Foot drop can get better on its own and with treatment, but sometimes it can be permanent. Less common causes of foot drop include: inherited conditions like Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease. muscle weakness caused by muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy or motor neurone disease.
Drop foot recovery can be expected in up to 3-4 months depending on the procedure or surgery required. Full recovery from a dropped foot is expected with most patients.
The most common cause of foot drop is peroneal nerve injury. The peroneal nerve is a branch of the sciatic nerve. It supplies movement and sensation to the lower leg, foot, and toes. Conditions that affect the nerves and muscles in the body can lead to foot drop.
Can foot drop be corrected with exercise? – Related Questions
Foot drop can cause problems walking. Because you can’t raise the front of your foot, you need to raise your leg higher than normal to take a step to avoid dragging your toes or tripping.
How can I tell if I have foot drop?
- Dragging or scraping your toes on the ground when you walk.
- Loss of sensation on the top of your foot.
- Curled toes.
- Numbness in your lower leg.
- Feeling weak in your leg, ankle, or foot.
What are the causes of foot drop?
- Multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS), spinal muscular atrophy, Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, muscular dystrophy, polio, or cerebral palsy.
- Stroke.
- Alzheimer’s disease.
- Parkinson’s disease.
- Diabetes.
Foot drop can result from lesions affecting any point along the neural pathways that supply the dorsiflexor muscles. Compression of the common peroneal nerve around the fibular head is the most common cause of foot drop.
Injury to the nerve roots in the spine may also cause foot drop. Brain or spinal disorders. Neurological conditions can contribute to foot drop.
A lesion of the L5 root, lumbar plexus, sciatic nerve, common peroneal, or the deep peroneal nerve can potentially lead to foot drop due to the weakness of the anterior compartment musculature.
With a rigid brace, you’ll find it easy to stand, but your movements will still be limited to walking. However, if you go with an articulated splint, you will recover nearly normal use of your legs. Our hinged AFO brace for foot drop will let you walk, run, drive any vehicle, and even practice any sport.
To repair a damaged nerve, a surgeon removes a small part of the sural nerve in the leg and implants this nerve at the site of the repair. Sometimes the surgeon can borrow another working nerve to make an injured nerve work (nerve transfer).
11 Best AFO Braces For Foot Drop
- Best For Daily Use: Step-Smart Drop AFO Brace.
- Best For Sciatica: Orthomen Ankle AFO Brace.
- Best Fit: Mars Wellness AFO Brace.
- Best Comfort: AliMed Swedish AFO Brace.
- Best Sturdy Material: Ossur AFO Leaf Spring Foot Brace.
- Best For All Kind Of Shoes: Ossur Foot-Up Drop Foot Brace.
Our podiatrists may prescribe a variety of treatments for foot drop. Foot drop treatment may include exercises, physical therapy, injections, foot orthotics, braces or bracing, or surgery. No one treatment works for everyone and our podiatrist will discuss the foot drop (drop foot) treatment options for you.
Your foot drop condition may improve on its own within 6 weeks. It may take longer for a serious injury to heal.
Generally, it takes about a week until you can wear your brace full-time or up to the length of a normal school day. Wear your brace up for two hours on followed by one hour off for a total wearing time of 6 hours per day. Increase wear to a total of 8 hours per day.
Results: The group of patients with drop-foot exhibited an increased force integral for all muscle groups, except for the ankle evertors. The highest increases were observed for hip adductors (112%), hip extensors (88%), knee and hip flexors (83% and 50%, respectively) and for the plantarflexor (47%).
