what apparatus do you use to keep foot drop at bay?

[em]

While standing today we noticed the both my heels may half been off the floor a fraction of an inch.

I try to stretch my feet but my legs bend at the knee so I really don't get a good stretch.

What apparatuses are out there to keep your legs straight while stretching?

EM

[SCI-Nurse]

It is safer to stretch out both your knees and your heel cords manually if you poor sensation or have been injured for a while. Doing this mechanically could cause injuries such as fractures. Do you do daily range of motion exercises? A good way to stretch out tight hamstrings (which keep your knees bent) is to prone on a mat or bed, with your feet off the end of the matt, then put weight cuffs on your ankles. This should be done in additon to manual stretching.

You also need to be sure that this is just tightness, and not a true calcified contractures (which has ossified and cannot just be stretched out). Your SCI physician would be the best one to assess this.

Your heels being off the floor can also be due to heel cord tightness. If this is the problem (not a knee contracture), the we often have the person stand with wedges under the soles of their feel (big end toward the toes).

It would be best to have your actual situation evaluated by either an experiences SCI PT or SCI physician before you try to correct this entirely on your own.

(KLD)

[Antonio]

if your ankles don't bend upwards (dorsiflexion) when the knee is straight (extended) - and if your knees don't stay extended when you try to bend upwards your ankle -, there's tightness in your gastrocnemius muscles. The more effective way to stretch them is standing with extended knees. If your heels don't touch the floor, don't worry: you are putting a good stretch on your gastrocnemius (one can feel it touching the heel cord: it should be quite tense). When your gastrocnemius will be stretched enough to let your heels touch the floor, you can put a wedge under your forefeet to stretch it further.
When standing with heels off, be careful about:
* high pressures under your metatarsal heads (ball of the foot), particularly the one of the little toe.
* the position of the ankle: the foot shouldn't be rolled inward.

Antonio

[Noel]

em, I am a c5-6 quad and wear what are called derotation splints at night. These offer 3 important benifits, first they keep the presure of the blankets from causing physical problems. They keep your feet upright preventing footdrop, they keep the blankets off your toes preventing toe-curl, and they keep your legs from rotating in or out which can leed to damage in the joints of your hips. Keeping the presure off your legs will also help reduce spasticity in people prone to it.

Of course if you are not doing quality ROM you are fighting a loosing battle.

There are many splints on the market. Look under Supports at the following site for ideas.

http://www.medcosupply.com/default.htm

Good luck.

Noel