does anyones lower back and shoulders get affected by drop foot
willit also cause other complications
would i be able to run in some of these new footdrop devices
Of course, every person, AVM, treatment, deficits, and recovery are different. Here’s what my wife Chari experienced.
After one of the embolizations or the surgery for fixing an aneurysm, she developed a significant foot drop in her right foot (AVM was on the left side of brain). Initially, the fix was for her to be fitted with a plastic brace that went under about 2/3rds of her foot, up the ankle, and secured about mid-calf with a velcro strap.
It corrected the foot drop mostly when she walked with it on and in shoes. It was:
Hot in the summer/Cold in the winter.
Always rubbing her calf and creating rashes or open sores where it attached.
It prevented her from wearing dresses (vanity).
I don’t think she could have run it this at all, or if she could within 1/4 mile, it would have rubbed her raw.
She went to some specialist the have her gait checked–they recorded her walk in a 3 D type thing and then analyzed it to determine what muscles, etc were not working.
A physical therapist worked with her to try to strengthen that muscle (though it was atrophying) and more to strengthen the working muscles to take over. When she plateaued, PT quit as insurance stopped paying. We found a knowlegable personal trainer who continued to strengthen the other muscles.
Over about 10 yrs of wearing the brace, and having the limp, she had tremendous hip pain (still does) and she had developed an unnatural walk with her shoulders about 3" out of level. Part habit and part compensation.
She opted for ankle surgery to correct the foot drop by splitting on ligament (or tendon, I forget), taking part of it to outside of her foot and reattaching, and shortening the other part. Essentially, they prevented her foot from dropping, so like now she can’t point her toes down on that foot. But she doesn’t have to wear a brace any longer, so that is priceless.
With it corrected, she can walk about 85% of normal. She still can’t job/run. I’d say if you had less muscle damage, you might be able to run, but you’d have to talk with a specialist to get the odds. Our surgeon only worked from the ankles down! Even then, he said only a 50-50 chance she’d get out of a brace, but any new brace would be smaller.
From our experience foot drop leads to bad posture, poor walking, almost impossible to walk barefooted.
Hope you find a solution.
ron, ks