foot drop

gimpy835 · 03-02-2008, 04:17 PM

when im at the gym and im doing exercises for my quads (one where you make your legs strait while sitting) i cannot keep my toes on my left foot pointed up. its almost like i have no control over my foot when im trying to do that exercise. i had L5-S1 fusion a little over a year ago and i do have nerve damage but havent noticed this until lately (i may not have been paying attention. anyone know if this is foot drop or wat the deal is?

HRK (herb) · 03-02-2008, 08:02 PM

foot drop is more about when you are walking. A normal gait is your first contact is your heel, then flat foot, then toe off.

with foot drop, you alter you gait because you cannot make the heel the first contact. so it goes toe contact, flat foot, toe off.
Basically the muscles in the front of you lower leg aren't working correctly. the L5/s1 injury you had could cause that, you may also find that you tend to trip a lot and roll you ankle.

I blew l5/s1 in 2001, I tripped all the time because I couldn't lift my toes correctly.

exercises
put a light dumbbell across you toes and kinda lift your toes up (dorsiflex your ankle). This works the tibalis anterior and will help correct the weakness.

hope that helps
Herb

gimpy835 · 03-02-2008, 08:07 PM

yea i do trip over my foot all the damn time, i just havent really paid any attention to it till the other day when i was at the gym and right toes are pointed up, left are strait forward. thanks though~!

crazy4health · 03-02-2008, 08:15 PM

I agree with herb as far as foot drop being involved with walking. I have worked with many patients with foot drop, the main issue is usually nerve damage. Not sure in your case, but sounds like it's a good bet considering your past injury. The exercise Herb wrote about will help strengthen the muscle, but if it's a nerve problem don't expect alot of improvement. certain nerves can get better, but they grow very slow so it take a long time (yr+ or more) Hope this helps.

gimpy835 · 03-03-2008, 10:56 AM

My neuro already told me some nevers are just fubar partly because it took the docs 2 years to do the proper test to find out what the issue was with my back pain instead of telling me that I just pulled some muscles in my back. Just wanted to make sure that this sounds right with foot drop before I schedule another appt with my neuro because as much as I love seeing my doctor and his PA, I could really do without.

ben3133 · 03-03-2008, 05:15 PM

As it sounds like you think the foot drop is recent, I would return to see the Neurologist. Tibialis anterior is primarily L5 innervated (and to a lesser extent S1), so it is likely to be related to your L5/S1 problems (the fusion should not cause foot drop though). Alternatively, you may have a peroneal neuropathy.

Do you get any numbness anywhere? Do any other muscles feel weak?

gimpy835 · 03-03-2008, 05:55 PM

my legs are weak as hell compared to what they used to be before the wreck. i do have numbness in parts of my left leg which ive had for a while now. i had to get another MRI dont recently and they found i have a lot of scar tissue forming at the surgery site. ive been having a lot of issues with inflamation and was given several packs of prednisone to get the inflamation and pain to calm down before the MRI. now im taking a combo of either soma and darvocet or soma and loratabs on a daily basis along with cymbalta. im getting in better shape strength wise with upper body but i went from before the accident of leg pressing 400+ lbs to not even being able to do half of that now 13 months post op.