Foot Drop

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Foot drop is also known and "drop foot." This is where the patient cannot lift their forefoot secondary to weakness of the dorsiflexor muscles. Foot drop can be caused by muscular, skeletal, or nervous system disorders.

Anatomy

Thigh compartments

Compartment	Muscles	Action	Nerve Supply	Blood Supply
Anterior	Sartorius and quadriceps muscles (rectus femoris, vastus lateralis, vastus intermedius, vastus medialis)	Hip flexion	Femoral nerve	Superficial femoral artery
Medial	Pectineus, obturator externus, gracilis, and adductor muscles (longus, brevis, magnus, minimus)	Hip adduction	Obturator nerve
Posterior	Biceps femoris, semimembranous, and semitendinous muscles	Hip extension	Sciatic nerve	Deep femoral artery

Leg compartments

Compartment	Muscles	Action	Nerve Supply	Blood Supply
Anterior	Tibialis anterior, extensor hallucis longus, extensor digitorum longus, and peroneus tertius	Dorsiflexion and inversion/eversion of the ankle and extension of the toes	Anterior tibial artery	Deep peroneal nerve
Lateral	Peroneus longus and peroneus brevis	Eversion of the foot and ankle, and weak plantarflexion of the foot	Peroneal artery	Superficial peroneal nerve
Superficial posterior	gastrocnemius, the soleus, +/- plantaris	Plantarflexion and inversion of the foot at the ankle, and toe flexion	Posterior tibial and peroneal arteries	Tibial nerve
Deep posterior	Tibialis posterior, flexor hallucis longus, flexor digitorum longus, and popliteus muscles.	Plantarflexion and inversion of the foot at the ankle, and toe flexion	Posterior tibial and peroneal arteries	Tibial nerve