Foot Drop/peroneal Palsy

Hello all,
Im a newbie.
4 months ago I was walking in the lobby of a local hospital when I slipped. When I stepped down on my left foot, I hit it just right as to dislocate my knee, tearing my ACL/PCL/LCL ligaments, broke the tip of my fibula and tore the peroneal nerve resulting in DROP FOOT. I was unable to have surgery as I was only 3 months out from having a HEART ATTACK. My Dr. initially told me I had to wait at least 2 years to see if the nerve would regenerate, but after having an EMG where the results weren't good he now says I can look into surgery sooner. I had 2 specially made foot braces but still can't get into a shoe. Im on elavil so the nerve pain is tolerable. Does anyone have any suggestions on alternative bracing? Surgery? Does it work? How Long will it take?
I realize my foot problem isn't life threating but not being able to walk and having HEART DISEASE IS a problem.
BTW.. im a 43yr old female who had NO previous heart condidions. NO high blood pressure, NO high cholesterol, NO family history, NO diabetes. I just didn't exercise and then some stress. (guess we all have that) So don't think it can't happen to you. Take care of those hearts. Its the #1 KILLER of WOMEN!

Originally Posted by shambbles

Hello all,
Im a newbie.
4 months ago I was walking in the lobby of a local hospital when I slipped. When I stepped down on my left foot, I hit it just right as to dislocate my knee, tearing my ACL/PCL/LCL ligaments, broke the tip of my fibula and tore the peroneal nerve resulting in DROP FOOT. I was unable to have surgery as I was only 3 months out from having a HEART ATTACK. My Dr. initially told me I had to wait at least 2 years to see if the nerve would regenerate, but after having an EMG where the results weren't good he now says I can look into surgery sooner. I had 2 specially made foot braces but still can't get into a shoe. Im on elavil so the nerve pain is tolerable. Does anyone have any suggestions on alternative bracing? Surgery? Does it work? How Long will it take?
I realize my foot problem isn't life threating but not being able to walk and having HEART DISEASE IS a problem.
BTW.. im a 43yr old female who had NO previous heart condidions. NO high blood pressure, NO high cholesterol, NO family history, NO diabetes. I just didn't exercise and then some stress. (guess we all have that) So don't think it can't happen to you. Take care of those hearts. Its the #1 KILLER of WOMEN!

Hi Shambbles,
I too have foot drop, results of back surgery in2002, have a afo, and if you have one please wear it all the time, as i did not have mine on one day and my ankle gave and now i have plates and pins in the both sides of my ankle. What makes me mad is I always wear it and was approching the chair it was sitting next too, and never made it. During the surgery for ankle I passed a blood clot in my lung and also dislocated my shoulder due to the fall, now facing another surgery for shoulder,rotater cuff and rips to muscle from hitting the floor when my ankle broke, but have to wait 6 months because of blood clot. I am on my 4th. none weight bering cast on ankle,because break is so bad, so please wear your afo,it happened so fast, and now all the pain, its like starting all over again,dont underwstimate foot drop, for it can cause more problems then you have now.
Best of luck cookie

WOW!!
Thanks for the info Cookie. Im sorry to hear of your fall. I have to admit that there are times I don't wear the AFO. I will certainly be more dilligent in wearing it. How long have you had foot drop? Is it permanent? Have you considered surgery? What kind of shoes do you buy? Im having a HORRIBLE time with finding ANY kind to fit me. I've even tried a mans 13 6E.... to no avail. Sorry for all the questions, but I've not chatted to anyone who's had it..

Originally Posted by shambles

WOW!!
Thanks for the info Cookie. Im sorry to hear of your fall. I have to admit that there are times I don't wear the AFO. I will certainly be more dilligent in wearing it. How long have you had foot drop? Is it permanent? Have you considered surgery? What kind of shoes do you buy? Im having a HORRIBLE time with finding ANY kind to fit me. I've even tried a mans 13 6E.... to no avail. Sorry for all the questions, but I've not chatted to anyone who's had it..

Hi Shambbles,
I have had my foot drop since after my back surgery in nov. of 2002, I was so scared, it was when they went to get me out of bed and my left leg went down, I had never heard of foot drop before, so the first thing I thought was did I have a stroke during surgery. The nerse said no, and the dr. would talk to me later. So he came in and said during the surgery, I had a double nerve root, so to get to the disc he had to go between the nerve and hit it and it would be better in a couple of days. Well over a year later, and shooting nerve in my leg, I still have it. I had emg, and like I did not even know he did it, so ofcourse that is very bad, not feeling the test. With the shooting nerve they want to do a spinal cord stimulaot implant,which will help0 with nerve pain, but not the drop foot. So now with all this, I am very frightened to have any surgery as the dr. who did my foot said with any surgery I have to be aware of blood clots, so now i think I will not have it, out of fear. Its bad enough I have to still have my shoulder done, which has tears in it, so right now I am a mess, that is why I say wear your afo at all times, this is a night mare I hope no one ever has to go thru. I wish you all the best of luck and hope you have a quick recovery.
Have a good day cookie

Hi Cookie,
Like you, I hadn't heard of foot drop before. I was in the hospital for a week and each day they came and would take about it. I was quite confused.
I met with my OS today, he's scheduling me for another EMG in two weeks. If the results are the same as the first one I;ll be having a tendon transfer in a few months.
Im scared to death to go through this again....ARGH!!!! Im also taking your advise on wearing the AFO full time. What you said really had me thinking and thats a good thing.
Best of luck to you with your upcoming shoulder surgery. Hoping it goes well and is without complications.
Good wishes to you
Cindy

Originally Posted by shambles

Hi Cookie,
Like you, I hadn't heard of foot drop before. I was in the hospital for a week and each day they came and would take about it. I was quite confused.
I met with my OS today, he's scheduling me for another EMG in two weeks. If the results are the same as the first one I;ll be having a tendon transfer in a few months.
Im scared to death to go through this again....ARGH!!!! Im also taking your advise on wearing the AFO full time. What you said really had me thinking and thats a good thing.
Best of luck to you with your upcoming shoulder surgery. Hoping it goes well and is without complications.
Good wishes to you
Cindy

Hi Cindy,
Just read your e-mail, what is a tendon transfer? Is it in your leg for the foot drop? Let me know, I am curious,where they get the tendon from and where do they put it. When you have time let me know.
wear your afo cookie

Originally Posted by cookie51

Hi Cindy,
Just read your e-mail, what is a tendon transfer? Is it in your leg for the foot drop? Let me know, I am curious,where they get the tendon from and where do they put it. When you have time let me know.
wear your afo cookie

I haven't actually met with the surgeon who would do the surgery but from what my OS said, he would either take a tendon from my own foot (autograf)I think behind the ankle of the injured foot? Or use a cadaver (allograf) sp? If I have a choice, Id rather not screw up anymore of my own body parts and use the cadaver. Im sure after I have all the details i'll be better able to make that decision along with my Dr. I hope to have an appt with the surgeron shortly after my 25Feb EMG. I'll keep you posted.
Cindy

Originally Posted by shambles

I haven't actually met with the surgeon who would do the surgery but from what my OS said, he would either take a tendon from my own foot (autograf)I think behind the ankle of the injured foot? Or use a cadaver (allograf) sp? If I have a choice, Id rather not screw up anymore of my own body parts and use the cadaver. Im sure after I have all the details i'll be better able to make that decision along with my Dr. I hope to have an appt with the surgeron shortly after my 25Feb EMG. I'll keep you posted.
Cindy

Hi Cindy,
Just a quick note, are you having this tendon and they are using it to help with your foot drop? Iwould like to know, I never heard of it, maybe i am confused about your surgery,please let me know.
Have a good night cookie

Originally Posted by cookie51

Hi Cindy,
Just a quick note, are you having this tendon and they are using it to help with your foot drop? Iwould like to know, I never heard of it, maybe i am confused about your surgery,please let me know.
Have a good night cookie

Hi Cookie.
Im not exactly sure what they will do or how they do it but I will let you know more once I've seen the specialist. Its my understanding that they take out part of my achillies tendon (sp?) and transfer it too the peroneal nerve where it was severed during the tibula break. I could be way off base but thats what I thought I heard my OS tell me...
Cindy

Originally Posted by shambles

Hi Cookie.
Im not exactly sure what they will do or how they do it but I will let you know more once I've seen the specialist. Its my understanding that they take out part of my achillies tendon (sp?) and transfer it too the peroneal nerve where it was severed during the tibula break. I could be way off base but thats what I thought I heard my OS tell me...
Cindy

Hi Cindy,
Just read your post, I am still confused, so the drs. think this surgery will help your foot drop, or is there another problem, this will address? I am so curious to find out is it is for foot drop I have never heard of it before. My drs. want to so spinal cord implant for the shooting nerve in my left leg, but said it would not help the foot drop.Right now on the implant I say no, I have so many other problems,I dont know what to deal with first. I think I will wait till after ankle and shoulder are taken care of before I have any implant done.All we can do is take it day by day.
Remember to wear your afo cookie

Hi Cookie,
I tore my peroneal nerve when I fractured the tibula during the knee dislocation and immediatly had foot drop. The dr's do belive the tendon transfer can help.
I read that "tendon transfers like the posterior tibialis tendon transfer can add power to a foot with peroneal palsy"
There is an excellent article on Foot drop on emedicine.com.
I hope this helps.
Cindy

Originally Posted by shambles

Hi Cookie,
I tore my peroneal nerve when I fractured the tibula during the knee dislocation and immediatly had foot drop. The dr's do belive the tendon transfer can help.
I read that "tendon transfers like the posterior tibialis tendon transfer can add power to a foot with peroneal palsy"
There is an excellent article on Foot drop on emedicine.com.
I hope this helps.
Cindy

Hi Cindy,
Your nerve tore,so maybe this tendon surgery will help you. My drop foot,is the result of dr. hitting the nerve in my back during surgery last year, he said I have two nerve roots and he had to go between the nerves to do surgery, and thats when mine happened. So I dont think tendon surgery would help me, I dont want any more surgerys on my back ,but I pray yours go well, they do wonderful things today with surgery, its just a shame you even have to go thru this, but I am sure all will go well. I will look at the article you said and see if there is anything on my problem.
Thanks for the advice cookie

Ladies, I don't know how I happened upon this site, but here I am.

In 2000, I got up to go to the bathroom in the night. My left foot had apparently "gone to sleep", but I didn't realize it. I took one step with my right leg, but when I tried to step with the left, it completely gave. I fell downward onto the wooden footboard of my bed. The fall dislocated my knee. I managed to get to a phone and call 911. I was in the hosp. for 10 days with a pretty serious knee surgery. They inserted 4 large pins (okay, they called them pins - I called them giant screws!) and then two long rods on the outside of my leg to immobilize it. I didn't walk for 3 and a half months.

Immediately following the fall, I had foot drop. The drs. seemed pretty sure it would come back, but after surgery they told me that a section of the peroneal nerve had been stretched from about 2 inches to 10 inches, completely destroying it. It's been 3 and a half years now, and within the last few months I've started being able to lift the toes just a bit.

I have worn an AFO all this time, and don't have any trouble walking at all - except that I have to wear boring shoes. I hadn't thought about not wearing it - I do walk around at home without it sometimes, but I'm very careful and I'm just so much slower that way, that I wouldn't really consider going without it any other time.

I haven't been to a doctor about this since being discharged after the surgeries and the physical therapy. What kind of test are you talking about for nerve damage, and specifically which doctor have you been talking to? the orthopedist or some other kind of specialist?

Thanks for your help.

Hi Ctucker.
Welcome, Im also new here. Sorry to hear of your accident. Its great news that you are able to move your toes after so long. The doctor Im seeing is an Orthopedic Surgeon but he's not able to help me with my foot drop. He's sending me to another OS who specializes in foot and ankle surgery. My nerve was torn from the knee dislocation, but that has only been 4 months ago yesterday. I had a EMG test (long needles into the legs and foot) done the day after Christmas.. Because there was no nerve activity, he has scheduled another EMG next week. If the results are the same I will probably have a "tendon transfer". However, three days ago I started getting different tingling in my foot. I've had the nerve pain since the beginning but this is slightly different. Hopefully thats a good sign? My foot is more swollen now then when I first injured my knee. Can't get the swelling down even with compression socks...... UHG!!

I'm glad you're having those new sensations Cindy - I'm sure that's a good sign. I had a strange tingling sensation from my knee down to the my big toe and back again over and over right after my knee surgery. The doctor was thrilled, thinking it was a good sign. However, after about a month, that stopped.

Keep us informed - I wish you the best of luck!
=)Cindy (yes, another Cindy )