Foot Drop/Leg Paralysis

[flute_lutz]

Hi everyone!

I have an odd question that may not be able to be answered, but anything would be helpful atp. A little backstory: I had surgery to remove a large, necrotic tumor from my sciatic nerve the end of April of this year. I woke up paralyzed in most of my left leg from it. My Oncologist told me it should resolve on its own in 3-4 months. I've been able to regain a lot of the feeling in my leg, and my knee has been improving. I have really bad atrophy and balance issues due to the lack of muscles. I can lift my foot up and down and move it side to side too. I can only move one toe though I was still hopeful this would resolve on its own. But I recently saw a Neurologist who wrote "unfortunately there seems to be significant damage to the nerve that was operated on. No reflex in left ankle, weakness in left knee, left foot drop, and cold lower left extremity. She may have some improvement with PT but I doubt she will get anywhere close to normal again". Obviously I was devastated and ugly cried that I'll never skate again.

I'm curious if there is anyone who has had anything similar, or maybe knows someone who had something similar and is back to skating. I really don't want to give up skating and would love to find a way to adapt to it, even if my condition doesn't completely improve. I'm willing to accept that it may never be 100% again, but if I can still skate and function I'm okay with that. I wear a stiff, plastic AFO brace that I don't think will fit in my skates (Edea Concertos) and idk how that would alter the fit. I'm thinking about taking a visit to my skate tech soon and seeing if she has any ideas. And I'll be speaking with my PT and Orthopedic Oncologist this week too. Any tips, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated though!

 

[midori green]

Hi everyone!

I have an odd question that may not be able to be answered, but anything would be helpful atp. A little backstory: I had surgery to remove a large, necrotic tumor from my sciatic nerve the end of April of this year. I woke up paralyzed in most of my left leg from it. My Oncologist told me it should resolve on its own in 3-4 months. I've been able to regain a lot of the feeling in my leg, and my knee has been improving. I have really bad atrophy and balance issues due to the lack of muscles. I can lift my foot up and down and move it side to side too. I can only move one toe though I was still hopeful this would resolve on its own. But I recently saw a Neurologist who wrote "unfortunately there seems to be significant damage to the nerve that was operated on. No reflex in left ankle, weakness in left knee, left foot drop, and cold lower left extremity. She may have some improvement with PT but I doubt she will get anywhere close to normal again". Obviously I was devastated and ugly cried that I'll never skate again.

I'm curious if there is anyone who has had anything similar, or maybe knows someone who had something similar and is back to skating. I really don't want to give up skating and would love to find a way to adapt to it, even if my condition doesn't completely improve. I'm willing to accept that it may never be 100% again, but if I can still skate and function I'm okay with that. I wear a stiff, plastic AFO brace that I don't think will fit in my skates (Edea Concertos) and idk how that would alter the fit. I'm thinking about taking a visit to my skate tech soon and seeing if she has any ideas. And I'll be speaking with my PT and Orthopedic Oncologist this week too. Any tips, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated though!

There was a post about foot drop awhile ago. I just (I think) bumped it up, so hopefully you can find and read it.

I would definitely talk to your PT. I think a lot depends on how strong of an assist you need to keep your foot up. I picture something external to the boot working best, but that probably has to be custom made or at least adapted. Something like a Strassburg sock is what I envision. There are e-stim based options, too, but that might not be practical for skating. Anyway, just dumping my thoughts. See how creative you can be brainstorming with your PT.

 

[WednesdayMarch]

Hi everyone!

I have an odd question that may not be able to be answered, but anything would be helpful atp. A little backstory: I had surgery to remove a large, necrotic tumor from my sciatic nerve the end of April of this year. I woke up paralyzed in most of my left leg from it. My Oncologist told me it should resolve on its own in 3-4 months. I've been able to regain a lot of the feeling in my leg, and my knee has been improving. I have really bad atrophy and balance issues due to the lack of muscles. I can lift my foot up and down and move it side to side too. I can only move one toe though I was still hopeful this would resolve on its own. But I recently saw a Neurologist who wrote "unfortunately there seems to be significant damage to the nerve that was operated on. No reflex in left ankle, weakness in left knee, left foot drop, and cold lower left extremity. She may have some improvement with PT but I doubt she will get anywhere close to normal again". Obviously I was devastated and ugly cried that I'll never skate again.

I'm curious if there is anyone who has had anything similar, or maybe knows someone who had something similar and is back to skating. I really don't want to give up skating and would love to find a way to adapt to it, even if my condition doesn't completely improve. I'm willing to accept that it may never be 100% again, but if I can still skate and function I'm okay with that. I wear a stiff, plastic AFO brace that I don't think will fit in my skates (Edea Concertos) and idk how that would alter the fit. I'm thinking about taking a visit to my skate tech soon and seeing if she has any ideas. And I'll be speaking with my PT and Orthopedic Oncologist this week too. Any tips, advice, etc. would be greatly appreciated though!

Don't despair just yet; it's still early days.

I had a catastrophic accident and had to have my right patella removed completely, realigned and the tendon screwed back into place. The muscle and nerves were all severed above the knee and I came around from surgery with absolutely no control over my right leg whatsoever. Plenty of feeling of the operation site, though! No major loss of sensation that I'm aware of but I had to learn to walk again and it took a while for my brain to sort that out. The accident was in 1999 and the surgery was in 2003. To this day, I still have to think through starting to walk if I've been sitting down for any length of time, or the leg just won't get the signals and I'll fall over. (Unintentionally hilarious.)

It took me a long time to get back on the ice. I'd pretty much consigned skating to the darkest corners of my inner wardrobe and couldn't even watch it on television. But eventually, 14 years after the surgery, I got back on the ice. It was terrifying but I did it. And yes, there were times when my muscle memory went, "Hey, YES! This is easy!" and the leg absolutely stopped, but none of the falls ever resulted in injury.

My advice to you is to take all the physio and any other therapy you can get. Insist that your goal is to get back on the ice and make each therapist take that seriously.

There is also a wonderful organisation called Inclusive Skating . I don't know where you are in the world (they are based in the UK) but their website is packed full of information and resources for people with additional challenges of all types. They support skaters with additional needs from first steps through to some really excellent performers. Check them out. If they have nothing in your area, they may well know something local to you.