Foot drop

[nortonrls]

Dear Dr,
i am a 24 year old male of 172 cms height and 74 kgs weight, suffering from FOOT DROP condition, i ll give a brief introduction about my surgery first, i was diagnosed for ACL Rupture/ Medial menicus tear left, then i have undergone a ACL RECONSTUCTION/LEFT MEDIAL MENISCAL TRIMMING through arthroscopy. Under spinal anaesthesia the torn portion of meniscus trimmed and balanced the remnants of ACL were excised. Appropriate femoral and tibial tunnels were made. A BPTB graft was harvested,passed and fixed with 30 mm x 8 mm interferential screws. washed and closed over suction drain.
During this surgery the Dr who operated told me that, a tunic was tied and the pressure was increased in my left thigh to stop the flow of blood to my operation site. The operation prolonged for 3 and half hours, he said me that due to the compression the peroneal nerve got damaged or compressed. Then to confirm this a nerve conduction study was done, the impression of the Dr over this study was

Motor.... Left peroneal nerve not excitable
Sensory...SNAP absent in left peroneal and small on left sural nerve
Conclusion... Left sciatic nerve lesion, very severe axon loss in peroneal component.

Dr i think i have explained the condition in detail. I have few question now,
1. How worse is this condition, will this recover on its own by time?
2. If not does this require a surgery?
3. PLS explain me about the surgery if available and how much time it will take post operation to come back to normal condition. i.e. when can i continue normal walking.

Hoping the best answers from you. Thank you.

Regards,
A.NORTON
Reliance Life Sciences, INDIA.
09867022008.

[sbowman]

I had hip surgery in January which resulted in foot drop also. I got the runaround from my orthopedist who kept telling me that "it will come back; just be patient". After visiting a neurologist and finding that I had a severe axonal injury and that it would not return, I did a lot of research online. The best solution I found was a neurosurgeon in Houston, Texas, USA that has pioneered a successful procedure called a "nerve transfer" by which he takes a portion of the tibial nerve and transfers it into the peroneal nerve. Depending on the exact condition, he claims a 70-90% success rate for return of motor function.

I just had this procedure performed last week and am now waiting for the regeneration that needs to take place. He tells me that I have to wait 4-6 months to see if it worked. Needless to say, we have our fingers crossed.

I believe there is another doctor somewhere in the world that does this procedure as well, but this guy is the only one in the U.S. He will consider you for the procedure if the date of your injury is less than 6 months ago. If you'd like his info, please email me.

Good luck with your situation.