What Is Drop Foot

What is drop foot is a common query that we come across from people who do not know much about this disabling condition. Drop foot is also commonly known in many countries as foot drop. This is a problem that occurs when the lateral popliteal nerve gets damaged. The muscles that are supplied by this nerve will also stop functioning because the muscles are provided the necessary action by the nerve.

As far as the lateral popliteal nerve is concerned, it causes the Tibialis anterior to function. When the nerve is damaged or even when the muscle is damaged, it can cause the drop foot to occur. So, what is drop foot really? It is a deformity that occurs in the person. It can lead to unstable walking and can even lead to falls in some people, especially the elderly.

Though you may know what is drop foot, you should also know what to do to correct the problem. The main problem that is present is that the muscle stops working. This can lead to inability of the person to lift the foot up. So, the foot hangs down even while walking and to clear the ground, a person affected by drop foot will need to lift the foot to an abnormal height. This causes a gait pattern that is not nice.

To overcome these problems, the drop foot treatment should start as soon as possible. The early stages after a nerve injury are crucial to cure the condition. If there is a delay in the treatment, then the deformity can become permanent. Then, the only option would be to perform reconstructive surgery, also known as Tendon transfer surgery to correct the Drop foot deformity. So, though there are many answers to the question what is drop foot, the usual answer is that it is a deformity that causes a variation in the gait or walking pattern of the person.

Drop Foot Brace

The drop foot brace is one that will help to prevent you from walking with a limp. This is a brace that will help you to regain the normal walking pattern that you had lost when you got the drop foot.

How drop foot brace helps?

As you already know, rest can take you only so far. In the end, the potential to heal has to be there to get over the drop foot. Sometimes the potential is there, and other times it is not. For example, if you injured your lower back and expect it to heal, then the sciatica you are feeling right now and resulting foot drop may dissipate with time. On the other hand, the drop foot brace will help you walk normally.

Drop Foot Brace: Effective Treatment Options, That Do Not Include Surgery

The drop foot brace, also known as the AFO that is mentioned above is a very helpful treatment option that can definitely help people walk better again. Hands down. It is typically made of low profile plastic and fits into a shoe. This brace is provided by a brace specialist, called an orthotist. These individuals can either give you a custom made AFO or an off the shelf version. Not only that, they can help you facilitate a claim to your health insurance, on your behalf. This means that you might not have to pay a cent out of your own pocket.

A podiatrist will assess your deformity and then prescribe the right kind of brace because there are a lot of drop foot brace types that can confuse an ordinary person!

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Ankle Foot Orthosis

The use of an AFO is very common when a person suffers from a drop foot. The AFO is nothing but the Ankle Foot Orthosis, a device that includes the ankle and the foot to help a person to walk with a near normal gait.

Drop foot is a disorder in which a person is unable to or has difficulty elevating their foot at the ankle joint. This could make walking tough to those who suffer from drop foot, as the toes can tend to drag the floor, that may result in the patient stumbling or becoming unstable on their feet. Individuals with drop foot compensate for the situation by utilizing the muscles in their hip to pick the foot up above the ground, this is known as a step page gait, or conversely they may compensate by swinging the leg to the outside so that the foot clears the floor, that is labeled as circumduction.

As a remedy for drop foot, numerous individuals employ a drop foot brace, also labeled as an ankle foot orthosis (AFO) to help patients to possess a more normal gait. There are several different kinds of braces utilized in the management of drop foot, the kind of brace used will depend upon a patients own particular condition. In treatment, an AFO can be employed in several different solutions to benefit the wearer; in order to have a far better understanding of how a drop foot brace works an individual needs to understand the movement in the ankle and foot areas.

The AFO brace can be used to either provide more stability to a person or it can also be used to provide more mobility to a person. This will depend on the age of the person. The functional need of the patient will also be taken into consideration when the Ankle Foot Orthosis is fabricated.