When your foot starts dragging, where you go decides what you get offered. With foot drop, the choice of who you see matters more than with almost any other foot problem.
Many general podiatrists handle common foot problems well, but for foot drop they often default to a brace or refer the case out, because treating it at the source means advanced nerve and tendon surgery that most practices do not perform. That is not a knock on them. It is simply the nature of this condition.
A foot drop specialist works differently in two ways. First, the diagnosis goes deeper: instead of treating the symptom, a specialist traces the problem back to its source, whether that is the peroneal nerve, a pinched L5 nerve root, diabetes, or an old injury. Second, the specialist can act on what they find, with options like nerve repair, tendon transfer, and targeted nerve transfer, rather than stopping at a brace.
Dr. Arshad Khan is a clear example of the difference. He is a triple board-certified foot and ankle surgeon, with the DPM, FACFAS, and FACPM credentials, and he is recognized as one of the few surgeons in the world capable of rapidly restoring motion for patients suffering from foot drop. He has pioneered procedures to correct it at the source, including nerve harvesting and nerve rerouting, and he helps patients who had been told nothing more could be done.
What that looks like for a patient is straightforward. One of Dr. Khan's foot drop patients described going from constantly tripping and falling to walking with his head held high again after surgery. That is the gap between being handed a brace and being told exactly why your foot drops and how it can be fixed.
Dr. Khan sees patients at Texas Regional Physicians in Sugar Land and serves the Greater Houston area, and the practice accepts most major insurance plans. For foot drop that has been slowing you down, that is where to start.