What Is Foot Drop (And What Causes This Peroneal Nerve Injury)?

What is a foot drop?

Foot drop, sometimes also known as drop foot, is a general term used for conditions like difficulty lifting the frontal part of your foot. If you have the condition of foot drop, the front tip of your foot may drag over the ground when you are walking. This isn’t a disease; instead, it is a sign of an underlying neurological, anatomical or muscular issue.  

Signs of foot drop?

Foot drop also makes it hard to fit the frontal tip of your foot, and it may drag on the floor while walking. This may also cause you to lift your thigh while walking, is tough to climb the stairs so that your foot can clear the floor. This very unusual gait may cause you to slap your foot on the floor with every step. In a few cases, the skin on your foot and the toes may feel numb. 

What are the causes of this peroneal nerve injury?

Foot drop is often caused due to weakness in general or paralysis of muscles in lifting this part of the foot. There are a few causes of this issue that are given below:

• Nerve injury:

The common cause of this peroneal nerve injury or foot drop is getting your nerve compressed. This nerve in your leg is responsible for controlling the muscles included in lifting your foot. This nerve may also get injured in hip or knee replacement surgery. 

• Muscle or nerve issues:

Many forms of muscular dystrophy, which is an inherited illness that causes progressive muscle weaknesses, may also contribute to giving you the foot drop. So can some other disorders such as Charcot Marie tooth disease or polio. 

• Brain and spinal cord issues:

Common peroneal nerve injury causes include disorders that affect the spinal cord or your brain. These include amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, which can cause a foot drop. It also includes multiple sclerosis as a contributor. 

How to deal with peroneal nerve pain or foot drop?

After consulting your doctor about this issue, you can start wearing ankle braces. These braces help support your foot and give your body the hold on lifting it without having to rap it on the floor. The ankle braces support the front part of the foot and give you the freedom to deal with foot drops without much resistance. 

It would help if you visited your doctor before wearing the ankle brace to find any underlying problem in time. If you are looking for high-quality peroneal nerve injury ankle braces, then you can get the best ones at Worldbrace. They offer the highest quality of neoprene used in these braces and perfect results after long enough wearing the brace. 

Many claim their foot drop to get soothed after wearing the supporting brace. You will be able to wear this brace long enough so that your foot can heal from the foot drop issue it is facing.