Foot drop

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Clinically Relevant Anatomy

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Mechanism of Injury / Pathological Process

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Clinical Presentation

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Diagnostic Procedures

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Outcome Measures

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Management / Interventions

Following palsy of the common peroneal nerve the main residual symptom can be foot drop due to the disruption to L4/5 muscle groups which perform dorsiflexion.

This has been shown to resolve in two thirds of patients by one year post injury. 

There are methods to improve the foot drop such as: use of splinting in a solid ankle-foot orthoses or foot-up splint. These work to increase the amount of dorsiflexion the foot is held in during gait and can prevent falls as the toes do not get caught on the floor.

Ankle-Foot orthoses used for foot drop

Graded exercises to encourage active dorsiflexion has been shown to prevent atrophy and speed up recovery but more research is needed.

Electro-stimulation of the effected muscle groups has also been shown to improve recovery times.

In extreme cases tibialis posterior can be transposed to regain active dorsiflexion through surgery.

Differential Diagnosis

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Resources

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