DROP FOOT Symptoms-Causes-Treatment
Treatments:
Foot drop that cannot be treated by surgery is often treated using a special orthotic device that provides normal range of motion to the foot and ankle during walking. Other people with foot drop can benefit from the stimulation of the affected nerves. The stimulation is applied as the foot is raised during a stride and is stopped when the foot touches down on the ground.
- What is Drop Foot?
Foot drop is a weakness of muscles that are involved in flexing the ankle and toes. As a result, the toes droop downward and impede the normal walking motion.
What are the symptoms?
Some people with foot drop walk with a much exaggerated swinging hip motion to help prevent the toes from catching on the ground. Another symptom of foot drop, which occurs as the foot is planted, is an uncontrolled slapping of the foot on the ground. Abnormal muscle function makes it difficult to prevent the toes from clearing the ground during the stride.
What are the causes?
Foot drop is caused by weakness that occurs in specific muscles of the ankle and the foot. The affected muscles participate in the downward and upward movement of the ankle and the foot. The normal function of these muscles is to allow the toes to swing up from the ground during the beginning of a stride and to control the movement of the foot following the planting of the heel towards the end of the stride. There are three general causes of the muscle weakness. - Damage to nerves can affect the transmission of impulses that help control muscle movement and function. Motor neuron diseases such as Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or post-polio syndrome, tumors in the brain or spinal cord, or diseases of the nerve roots of the lumbar spine are all neurological conditions that may produce foot drop.
- Second, the muscles themselves may be damaged.
- Third, there can be some skeletal or other anatomical abnormality that affects the movement of the ankle or foot. A combination of these factors can also be involved, as is the case with the drop foot malady known as Charcot foot.
Treatments:
Foot drop that cannot be treated by surgery is often treated using a special orthotic device that provides normal range of motion to the foot and ankle during walking. Other people with foot drop can benefit from the stimulation of the affected nerves. The stimulation is applied as the foot is raised during a stride and is stopped when the foot touches down on the ground.