WHAT IS FOOT DROP?

Foot drop is when you find it difficult to lift your foot, causing you to drag your toes when you walk. This can often lead to trips and falls. Foot drop is a symptom of neurological conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (MS) and stroke. These health conditions cause problems with the nervous system, which is the body’s way of communicating. If there is something wrong with the nervous system, then the messages from the brain to the rest of the body can’t get through, and this can cause the muscles to stop working. The muscles at the front of your ankle are called dorsiflexors, and they contract to lift the foot up. With foot drop there is paralysis of these muscles, causing significant weakness.

What does foot drop look like?

If you have foot drop, then your foot and toes may drag along the ground when you are walking. You may feel like your foot is not fully under your control. People sometimes describe feelings of numbness or tingling down the front of their foot and ankle. The paralysis of the dorsiflexor muscles can make your foot flop downwards and sometimes there is a slapping sound when the affected foot hits the ground. Over time, you may notice that you lose muscle tone and strength in the foot and calf, due to misuse.

Which movement is lost in foot drop?

The muscles that run down the front of your shin and ankle are called dorsiflexors. When they contract, they lift the foot and toes up. Foot drop is a symptom of neurological conditions that cause weakness or total paralysis of these dorsiflexor muscles. This means that they do not get the signals from the brain to contract, and so this makes it very difficult for you to lift your foot up.

What does walking with foot drop look like?

Due to the dorsiflexor muscles that run down the front of the leg and ankle being weak and not able to pull the foot up, the body has to compensate and alter your walking pattern so that you can still take a step. One of the things that you might do is to raise your thigh more than normal, like you’re climbing stairs, so that your foot can clear the ground. This is sometimes referred to as a steppage gait. Another thing that people with foot drop may do is keeping the leg straight and swinging it to the side in a semicircle, to try to move forward. The research team at Health Design Collective have many years of experience in helping people with foot drop, and provide the most evidence based guidelines and expertise.