If you experience foot drop, you know how challenging it can be to deal with. Walking can become difficult and dangerous. You may be fearful of falling. And maintaining mobility can be a constant worry. However, with the right treatment, it’s possible to maintain — and even improve — your mobility. Here are some foot drop improvement stories that illustrate just how much progress can be made with the right treatment.

What is foot drop?

Foot drop is a condition in which the muscles in the front of the ankle and foot become weak or paralyzed, causing the foot to drag or drop-down while walking. This can lead to difficulty lifting the front part of the foot and toes, which greatly increases an individual’s risk of falling or stumbling.

In addition to difficulty walking, individuals with foot drop may also experience other symptoms, such as foot pain, stiffness, or numbness. They may also have trouble climbing stairs or hills and may need to use assistive devices. Common devices for foot drop include orthoses or bionic clothing to help them walk.

What causes foot drop?

Foot drop can result from injury or damage to peripheral nerves or nerve roots, or neurological disorders that result in muscle weakness.

Causes of foot drop include neurodegenerative disorders such as multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, and stroke; disorders impacting motor neurons such as polio, peripheral nerve disorders, damage or local compression to the peroneal nerve, and muscle-related disorders such as myositis or muscular dystrophy, and some forms of simple muscular atrophy and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (known commonly as Lou Gehrig’s disease).

Many people who struggle with foot drop not only experience physical challenges but also a high cognitive load while walking.

What is cognitive load?

“Cognitive load” refers to the mental effort required to process and understand information, complete a task, or perform a skill. For people without foot drop or other gait impairments, walking is second nature. It’s not something that requires conscious thought.

But for people with foot drop, cognitive load may be increased due to the additional effort and attention needed to adapt their walking pattern to compensate for the muscle weakness or nerve dysfunction that causes foot drop.

As a result, people with foot drop may need to use additional cognitive resources to plan and execute their movements, pay attention to their feet and the ground, and adjust their gait to avoid tripping or falling.

This can make walking emotionally tiring and frustrating for many people. It can also limit their ability to engage in conversation while walking or safely navigate crowded spaces or uneven terrain.

How is foot drop treated?

There are several treatment options for foot drop, depending on the underlying cause of the condition. In some cases, physical therapy can help to strengthen the muscles in the foot and ankle, improve range of motion and flexibility, and reduce pain and discomfort.

Physical therapists may use a variety of techniques. These could include stretching, strengthening exercises, and massage, to help improve function and mobility. Other treatment options may include nerve stimulation, surgery, or the use of orthoses.

Some common types of orthoses include ankle-foot orthoses (AFOs). AFOs support the lower leg, and knee-ankle-foot orthoses (KAFOs), which extend up the leg to additionally support the knee.

If left untreated, foot drop can lead to complications, such as chronic pain, difficulty walking, and increased risk of injuries.

Foot drop improvement stories

Foot drop improvement stories from MS warriors: Darryl

Meet Darryl. He’s been living with MS for about ten years. He first noticed mobility changes while at work when his foot kept catching on a carpet at his office. After seeing his doctor, he was told the reason for his foot drop: multiple sclerosis.

As time went on and his disease progressed, his mobility worsened. A few years ago, he retired, partly due to difficulty moving and needing a cane to avoid tripping. Though the cane helped with balance, it did little to correct his foot drop.

Sometime after, he discovered bionic clothing, which he uses to improve his foot drop and strengthen the muscles in his leg. In just a few short months, he says the muscles in his leg have increased in size and definition. He can now walk further distances with less fear of falling.

In July, his only daughter is getting married. With the help of his bionic clothing, he looks forward to dancing with her and walking her down the aisle.

Steve

Meet Steve. He’s an MS warrior who recently celebrated his sixtieth birthday. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis back in 2000, though in hindsight, his symptoms began in the early 1990s.

As a self-described “exercise junkie,” Steve says walking and mobility changes have been his most bothersome symptoms. “All of my efforts at eating well and staying active have helped, but as time goes on the disease claws its way more and more into my life. Ten years ago or so I developed foot drop, which impacts how I walk and how much I am able to walk.”

Steve says he’s not too bothered by his foot drop at the beginning of the day. But as the day goes on, moving around becomes much more difficult. As an engineer, he often has to walk around facilities, which leaves him extremely fatigued by the end of the day — both physically and mentally.

He says, “With foot drop, I am constantly thinking about tripping, and the challenges with different surfaces (sticky, bumpy, etc.). People shouldn’t have to think about walking in the same way that they shouldn’t have to think about breathing. But that’s not the case with MS.”

Thankfully, Steve learned about a clinical trial testing a Neural Sleeve to address mobility in people with foot drop. The results were immediate. The stimulation delivered by the neural sleeve helped increase functional range of motion and facilitate muscle re-education.

And after wearing it daily over a few months, he says he was able to walk double the distance he could before the trial. “I’m even able to run for short distances, something I haven’t been able to do in years.”

Jim

Meet Jim. He was diagnosed with MS ten years ago. Over the last few years, his left foot and leg have grown progressively weaker, which has greatly reduced his ability to walk. After using the Cionic Neural Sleeve for just a week, he noticed he was walking more quickly and smoothly.

“The whole time I was walking, I was thinking about something else completely. How many times have I been able to do that over the last couple of years? It was a really beautiful feeling.”

Foot drop improvement stories from adults with Cerebral Palsy

Meet Jan. She has a life-long condition of cerebral palsy (CP). She lives in a coastal town in California and has struggled with balance, coordination, and foot drop most of her life.

As a kid, she had multiple surgeries and has tried more than six different assistive devices throughout her adult life to try to improve her mobility.

All the treatments and devices that she’s had have helped, but one really made a difference for her: the Cionic Neural Sleeve. She says of all the things she’s ever used, this is the one thing that she looks forward to putting on every day.

Now, she only uses a walker when she’s outside on her own. If she’s accompanied, wearing the sleeve, she doesn’t need the walker and her quad cane is sufficient, which allows her to walk arm-in-arm with her husband along the California coast, a place Jan describes as “her happy place” and one that has been off-limits to her for fifteen years.

“For me, it really is a medical miracle!” she adds. That’s pretty special.

Learn more about new treatments for foot drop

If you’re struggling with foot drop, know that with the right treatment, you can better manage your condition and potentially even improve your mobility. The Cionic Neural Sleeve is the first FDA-cleared bionic clothing for mobility impairment.

The first multi-site research study found that 94% of participants showed a positive increase in dorsiflexion at heel strike and 88% showed a positive improvement in ankle inversion during swing.

With sophisticated sensors that continuously monitor your movement in real-time and functional electrical stimulation that activates the necessary muscles to address foot drop, the Cionic Neural Sleeve is a promising new treatment option for individuals who experience foot drop.