“Foot drop” is a condition in which nerve dysfunction hinders the ability to lift one's foot off the ground while walking. It is a deficiency in turning the ankle and toes upward, known as “dorsiflexion.” Conditions leading to foot drop may be neurological, muscular or, in the case of Warwick native Trent Ferrara, both.

“I was diagnosed with MS [Multiple Sclerosis] in 1986 but after the initial symptoms, I was symptom free for years,” said the animated 54-year-old, “so when I began to notice the drop foot, we just assumed it was the MS. I began to drag my foot around. I was a very active person and I used to run all the time. Then I couldn’t do the things I used to do but I accepted it and just kept on doing the best I could.”

Ferrara, who had been a prominent interior designer for over 20 years, decided he wanted to pursue a longtime ambition, which was to run a restaurant and cook.

“I always told people I was a good cook but people said ‘Oh sure you are,’ but didn’t take me seriously. Then I started out as a prep cook in a restaurant and eventually worked my way up to doing the actual cooking. Then people started saying, ‘Why didn’t you tell us you could cook?’”

Ferrara got over that minor exasperation and opened his own bistro on the East Side of Providence.

“It quickly began to catch on and people eventually were waiting to get in,” said Ferrara. “Rhode Island Monthly voted Trent’s Bistro Café one of the best places for food in the state. It was a wonderful feeling to look out of the kitchen and see people standing on the sidewalk with bottles of wine, waiting to get in.”

Ferrara said he loved the work and would do anything that had to be done in the place to keep it running smoothly.

“If someone didn’t make it for a shift, I washed dishes, I waited tables; you name it, I did it.”

In the meantime, the drop foot got worse and more painful. It finally got to the point where his leg turned a sickly blue.

“I went to a surgeon who looked at my leg and said I had a blockage in my artery and wasn’t getting enough blood in my foot. The muscles had been deprived of blood and when they couldn’t function, they atrophied.”

Ferrara said he was lucky that he didn’t have to have the foot cut off. The leg was operated on successfully, circulation was returned to his foot and the condition was less painful. But years of inactivity had virtually paralyzed the muscles and Ferrara resigned himself to living with drop foot.

“Then I was watching Good Morning America and there was a woman on who had drop foot for 10 years because of her MS and she was talking about this new device that allowed her to just about get over it,” said Ferrara. “She said she was a runner and a basketball player and she was back to doing both after using this device. I had to find out more about it and I got on the Internet for hours finding out as much as I could about it.”

What “it” was The NESS L300TM neuro-rehabilitation system, a device that includes three components that communicate wirelessly to control an electric stimulator that coordinates walking. It delivers electrical stimulation to specific nerves, which control the movement of muscles that cause the foot to flex and the toes to rise as you walk.

A device called an “orthois,” wraps around the leg just below the knee. It contains electrodes that provide the stimulation.

The “Intelli-Sense Gait Sensor,” fits on a regular shoe. It automatically adjusts a person’s gait, based on the speed, rhythm and the different surfaces the person is walking on.

The control unit “talks” to the other components to promote a more normal walking pattern for the affected foot. The control unit is programmed by a physical therapist for a patient’s specific needs. In a word, the device prevents foot drop. But it also stimulates the muscles and allows the user to gradually build up the inactive muscles.

“When they first turned mine on, I got this terrific burning pain in my foot and yelled,” said Ferrara, “but they explained that, after so many years of not being used, the muscles were suddenly being stretched.”

It didn’t take Ferrara long to grasp how the machine was working and he, being a hyperactive alpha type, told the therapist he would be back to running in a couple of weeks.

“They didn’t say anything to discourage me but they did tell me not to be discouraged if it didn’t happen that fast,” said Ferrara. “I was strictly limited to 15 minutes a day and, of course they were right. Initially, it is very painful to work the [atrophied] muscles. But I gradually worked my way up to a couple of hours and I’m now walking everyday on Oakland Beach, on the sand.”

What Ferrara is doing is what therapists call “neuromuscular re-education,” which facilitates neuromuscular re-education and the increased circulation that results reduces atrophy, swelling, spasticity and pain.

“When I can, the first thing I’m going to do is take a long run on Oakland Beach,” said Ferrara. “Oakland Beach has become a symbol of my recuperation.”

Ferrara said optimistic goals mentioned by his therapist have been six months to a year before he has developed his leg to the maximum it can be under the circumstances.

“If it takes longer than that, I will live with it,” he said. “I had an eight-years’ sentence of drop foot, so what’s a year after that?”

Ferrara said it’s not just himself he thinks about as he walks along Oakland Beach. There are many reasons that people can develop drop foot and the stimulator offers hope to a range of patients; people who have had a stroke, traumatic brain injury, brain tumor and certain types of spinal cord injury.

Before you get on the Internet yourself looking for a site to buy the device, don’t waste your time. The proprietary device requires a doctor’s prescription and the supervision of a certified physical therapist specially trained with the device. Right now, the Braintree Rehabilitation Hospital Outpatient Clinic in Milford, Mass., is the only rehab facility in the area that offers it so far. They can be contacted at Outpatient Evaluations at 508-478-5775.

For more information about the NESS L300TM neurorehabilitation system, contact Bioness Neuromodulation Ltd., 25103 Rye Canyon Loop, Valencia, Calif., 91355 or visit www.bioness.com.