Foot drop is a common term for a paralysis or weakness below your knee that leaves you unable to lift the front portion of your foot upward. Depending on the specifics of your situation, this condition has a number of potential anatomical, muscular or neurological causes. Consumption of the mineral zinc, however, has no involvement in foot drop development.
Foot Drop Basics
If you have foot drop, you can develop walking, or gait, abnormalities that include raising your thigh with each step as if you were trying to climb steps, dragging your foot on the ground and slapping your foot on the ground. In some people, the only indication of the presence of foot drop is difficulty lifting the front of the foot. In some cases, foot drop symptoms only appear in one foot; in other cases, both feet are affected. Foot drop is not classified as a separate medical disorder; instead, it appears as a result of other underlying problems.
Underlying Causes
You can develop foot drop if you physically injure the muscles in your ankles or feet, which help control foot movement. You can also develop the condition if you experience various types of nerve damage. This includes abnormal pressure on the nerve on the outside surface of your shin, spinal or leg nerve damage resulting from unaddressed complications of diabetes and damage associated with major surgeries such as knee and hip replacements. Central nervous system disorders such as multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease and stroke can also trigger foot drop. In addition, you can develop the condition if you have muscular dystrophy or any form of a disorder called compartment syndrome, which involves abnormal internal compression of your blood vessels and nerves.
Zinc Toxicity Effects
Zinc helps initiate a wide variety of chemical reactions throughout your body, and you need a certain amount of dietary zinc to stay healthy. If you take anywhere from 50 to 150 mg of supplemental zinc per day, you can develop relatively mild symptoms of gastrointestinal distress, according to Oregon State University's Linus Pauling Institute. If you take higher doses of zinc, or accidentally ingest zinc-contaminated food or drink from faulty containers, you can develop zinc toxicity symptoms that include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal cramping. If you inhale zinc oxide fumes, you can develop symptoms that include weakness, rapid breathing and extremely excessive sweating.
Additional Potential Effects
Adults have a maximum safe daily zinc intake of 40 mg. Adolescents have a maximum intake of 34 mg, while children have lower safe intakes that vary with age. An adult who habitually gets more than 60 mg of zinc per day from combined supplemental and dietary sources can develop a copper deficiency, says the Linus Pauling Institute. Potential consequences of this kind of deficiency include anemia, a reduced white blood cell count and osteoporosis. People who use nasal zinc preparations can develop temporary or permanent loss of their normal sense of smell. Consult your doctor for more information on the causes of foot drop and the potential consequences of excessive zinc consumption.
