Foot drop that needs more than toe testing

A fictional patient has ankle dorsiflexion and great-toe extension weakness after several weeks of leg symptoms. A trainee states that great-toe weakness alone proves an L5 radiculopathy and excludes a common fibular lesion. The supervisor points out that the same movement can be impaired in both localizations. No complete hip, inversion, reflex, sensory, electrodiagnostic or imaging assessment has yet been supplied. The case asks for the useful next reasoning distinctions rather than an automatic operation or a definitive diagnosis from one muscle. It also demonstrates why a good answer must not silently add an unexamined normal finding. Appropriate further assessment should follow the actual symptoms, severity and clinical context.