drop foot is a common symptom in hemiplegia, characterized by a lack of dorsiflexion during the swing phase of gait, resulting in short, shuffling strides. it has been shown that fes can be used to effectively compensate for the drop foot during the swing phase of the gait. at the moment just before the heel off phase of gait occurs, the stimulator delivers a stimulus to the common peroneal nerve, which results in contraction of the muscles responsible for dorsiflexion. there are currently a number of drop foot stimulators that use surface and implanted fes technologies. drop foot stimulators have been used successfully with various patient populations, such as stroke, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.