Drop Foot

1. Symptoms

Foot Drop also known as Drop Foot is the inability to lift the front part of the foot. This causes the toes to drag along the ground while walking.

2. Causes

Foot Drop is defined as neurological deficit that causes weakness of dorsiflexion in the ankles and toes. Injury to the Peroneal Nerve is the major cause. Other reasons include:

Issues Potentially NF2 Related

1. Neuropathies.
• Peripheral Neuropathy: Schwannoma Tumors or Schwann Cells on nerves, in the whole body outside of the brain and spinal cord.
• Radiculopathy: Damage to a certain region of the body, for Drop Foot the location would be either at the Spinal Cord at L5, somewhere along the Sciatica Nerve or somewhere in the lower leg. This could be from a tumor or nerve trauma from surgery to remove a tumor.
2. Brain Tumor.
• Issues around the Central Parasagittal region
• Primary Brain region
3. Seizures.
4. Stroke. Ischemic

Other Possibilities - No relation to NF2

1. Metastatic Tumor.
2. Head Trauma.
3. Drug intoxication.
4. Spinal Stenosis.
5. Muscular Dystrophy.
6. Systemic Diseases such as; Connective Tissue Disorders, Vasculitis and Diabetes Mellitus.

3. Recovery

A combination of; shoe inserts, support braces, electrical stimulation devices and physical therapy are available to help walk normally.

Surgical treatment to fix foot drop may be possible depending on the exact cause. Talk to your doctor and physical therapist, and ankle foot orthosis (AFO).

4. Sources

1. Yu-Shan Lee1 and Pao-Yu Wang. Acta Neurologica Taiwanica. (June 2009) Foot Drop Caused by a Brain Tumor: A Case Report.
2. WebMd. (2012) Foot Drop. http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/foot-drop-causes-symptoms-treatments
3. Schulz, A., Baader, S. L., Niwa-Kawakita, M., Jung, M. J., Bauer, R., Garcia, C., ... & Morrison, H. (2013). Merlin isoform 2 in neurofibromatosis type 2-associated polyneuropathy. Nature neuroscience. http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.3348.html?elq=98b2aca29f3449daab746bd5c7f90871
4. "Engineers 3D print flexible mesh for ankle and knee braces." Science Daily https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/06/190620153500.htm

More Images

Boy - Drop Foot