Diagnosis
The diagnosis of peroneal paresis can often be made during the doctor-patient consultation when the patient reports the typical symptoms and signs of failure. During the examination by the doctor, the definitive diagnosis can usually be made on the basis of the numbness in the area of the lower leg described. Only rarely does the nerve conduction velocity have to be measured by means of electrodes, which is reduced in peroneus paresis. In order to exclude a herniated disc of the L5 disc, however, an MRI can be performed additionally, since the exact differentiation between nerve damage or damage to the disc is often difficult to make.
Therapy
The therapy for peroneal paresis depends very much on what caused it. If peroneus paresis was caused by a herniated disc, it should be corrected. If the cause is a bleeding or a water retention (edema) pressing on the nerve, these causes must be eliminated so that the peroneus paresis is reversed and the patient can fully feel his lower leg again and move it adequately.
If the nerve has been damaged by pressure damage (e.g. a plaster cast), physiotherapy in particular can help the patient to rebuild the muscles and stimulate the nerve so that it can resume its full function. However, if the nerve has been severed and peroneal paresis has occurred, there may be no treatment options to restore the nerve to full function. In this case, one speaks of an irreversible, i.e. irreversible nerve damage.
In this case, the therapy consists of avoiding possible consequential damage (secondary damage), such as a foot malposition (pointed foot). For this purpose, the patient is fitted with special support splints so that the leg is in the correct position. In the case of peroneal paresis, physiotherapy is often the method of choice so that the patient can fully feel and move his lower leg and foot again.
Physiotherapy in peroneal paresis ensures that the patient rebuilds the muscles that were not used adequately due to the damage to the nerve, and that the nerve is thus stimulated more frequently again. As a result, physiotherapy has very good results in the treatment of peroneal paresis. Nevertheless, it is possible that physiotherapy fails in peroneal paresis. This is always the case when the nerve has been irreversibly damaged, for example, when a nerve is severed in an accident.Although physiotherapy cannot reverse peroneal paralysis, it can help the patient to find a way to avoid a foot malposition despite the paralysis and to optimize the gait pattern so that stork gait does not occur. It is particularly important that the physiotherapy of peroneal paresis is carried out permanently and regularly so that the patient can achieve the desired therapeutic success.
