What is a foot lifter paresis?
Paresis is a motor weakness or a slight paralysis. A weakness of dorsiflexion of the foot is usually caused by damage to the nerves. Often the nervus peroneus is affected.
Due to the damage, the electrical impulses can no longer be transmitted and the muscle cannot contract, the contraction does not occur. Consequently, the foot can no longer be lifted. The cause is a disease of the nervous system. Therefore, this symptomatology is also called a neurological disorder.
The causes
The causes of foot lifter paresis can be numerous. The foot muscle is only impaired in its function because it lacks the electrical impulses of the corresponding nerve. The missing impulse of the nerve can be caused by damage to the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord).
This can be caused by a stroke or multiple sclerosis. A frequent cause of weakness of dorsiflexion of the foot is a slipped disc. The herniated disc compresses the nerves in the area of the spine.
This also applies to spinal stenosis (narrowing and compression of the spinal cord). Other causes can be found in the area of the peripheral nervous system. The peripheral nervous system is a network of all nerves outside the spinal cord.
The peripheral nerves emerge from different segments of the spinal cord and run in different parts of the body. Several segments of these nerve fibers also unite to form the so-called sciatic nerve. The sciatic nerve runs towards the thigh and divides above the knee into the nervus peroneus, which innervates the foot lifting muscles.
If the nerve is damaged somewhere in its course, this leads to foot lifter paresis. Nerve damage can occur, for example, during hip joint operations or interventions on the knee joint. An injury in the area of the fibula head can also be the cause. You can find more information about spinal canal stenosis here.
