Dropfoot (also known as drop foot, foot drop and footdrop) is a condition characterized by weakness or paralysis of the muscles involved in lifting the front part of the foot. It causes a person to either drag the foot and toes or engage in a high-stepping walk called steppage gait. A significant number of individuals men and women, young and old experience difficulty with the most simple day-to-day activities because of mobility dysfunctions such as peroneal nerve palsy that lead to dropfoot. WalkAide was designed to restore mobility to those individuals seeking a return to independence.

What is Foot Drop?

Foot drop, or drop foot as it may also be called, refers to a weakening of the muscles that allow one to flex the ankle and toes, causing the individual to drag the front of the foot while walking and to compensate for this scuffle by bending the knee to lift the foot higher than usual.
A quick way to test for foot drop is to try to walk on the heels. If this proves difficult, drop foot may be present.
While foot drop is a neuromuscular disorder that affects the nerves and muscles, it is not actually a disease in itself but rather a symptom of some other medical problem, possibly by a condition in the low back. The possibility that foot drop may be caused by a condition in the low back may be overlooked, but it is important to evaluate in order to pursue appropriate foot drop treatment.

Drop Foot Complications

Regardless of the foot drop cause for the specific patient, the fact remains that a dropped foot can produce many difficulties, including the inability to:
Raise the foot at the ankle
Point the toes upward at the body (this movement is known as dorsiflexion)
Walk normally in the heel-to-toe fashion.

Foot Drop Considerations

Patients with dropped foot should be aware of the following:
Foot drop may be experienced in one or both feet. If the dropped foot is caused by a low back condition, it is typically experienced in one foot.
Drop foot is a temporary or permanent condition, depending on its cause and treatment.
Foot drop may be simplistically diagnosed by having difficulty raising up on their heels.
Foot drop is characterized by steppage gait. While walking, people suffering the condition drag their toes along the ground or bend their knees to lift their foot higher than usual to avoid the dragging. This serves to raise the foot high enough to prevent the toe from dragging and prevents the slapping. To accommodate the toe drop, the patient may use a characteristic tiptoe walk on the opposite leg, raising the thigh excessively, as if walking upstairs, while letting the toe drop. Other gaits such as a wide outward leg swing (to avoid lifting the thigh excessively or to turn corners in the opposite direction of the affected limb) may also indicate foot drop.
Patients with painful disorders of sensation (dysesthesia) of the soles of the feet may have a similar gait but do not have foot drop. Because of the extreme pain evoked by even the slightest pressure on the feet, the patient walks as if walking barefoot on hot sand.
Drop foot and foot drop are interchangeable terms that describe an abnormal neuromuscular disorder that affects the patient's ability to raise their foot at the ankle. Drop foot is further characterized by an inability to point the toes toward the body (dorsiflexion) or move the foot at the ankle inward or outward. Therefore, the normal gait cycle is affected by the drop foot syndrome.

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