Compartment Syndrome

Anyone ever had this before? I was diagnosed with it in my lower right leg yesterday by a sports orthopedist. I have to go to a physical therapist who will teach me a different running form so as to allow me to work through it. Failing that, my options are surgery or quit running. I'm only 30, so I don't plan to give up running, but I hate the idea of surgery.

 

Compartment syndrome is a complication often due to trauma or fracture of the tibia. The muscles in the shin are contained by tight membranes and if the muscle swells or bleeds, the pressure rises potentially cutting off blood supply to the leg.

It can also happen after aggressive exercise in some athletes. The treatment is a fasciotomy to strip away the membranes to release the pressure within the compartment.

Not only can muscle die, but nerves that run through the compartment can be affected and fail.

 

Lots and lots of compartment syndrome among IED victims ... if there's a leg left.

 

Well, I can say with confidence that's not what caused mine. Though I am curious how an IED explosion would cause it - my understanding is that it's a problem of overuse and poor form.

 

I've got it, had it for years, and I am no athlete. More of a hiker / walker. Mostly my left calf/shin, but might right flares up as well.

I saw a sports medicine guy, heard about the surgery and declined to do that. Figure I would take my chances getting in better shape and doing stretches, etc.

When I am walking/hiking a lot, it usually kicks in during the first mile. Basically, I've learned to stop and rest, let it calm down, and then gradually get back to walking after about letting the pain subside, which can take 15 minutes of resting for me.

It's not fun, but I am a casual exerciser, so I have just lived with it. If you are more active, surgery might be a good idea.

As far as blunt force trauma, I've had it in both legs (non-IED of course). Line drive softball to the left shin in 1995, turned my whole leg and foot blue from the calf downwards due to all the broke blood vessels. Right leg, fell on steps leading into the back of a trailer in 2002, landing with all my weight on my right shin producing another huge bruise blood flow.

And, last year, I fell again at a work site, this time with all my weight just below my left knee, and my lower leg turned blue again. I got lucky on that one, because I almost fell 15 feet onto concrete.

So, anecdotally, yeah this compartment syndrome could be related to my previous injuries. Never really thought that before - just thought I was way out of shape.

Anyway, short answer is yes, have it, and I try to rest, stretch and slowly walk it off when it kicks in.

Hope that helps.

 

Dennis Wideman, then of the Washington Capitals, got it late in the 2011 season, presumably after a hit or a shot block. Pictures of his leg were gruesome.

 

I know Kyle Lohse missed a good chunk of a season a year or two ago with it in his pitching forearm. I did not realize blunt-force trauma could cause it.

 

http://www.medicinenet.com/compartment_syndrome/article.htm

The author might be suspect

 

Trauma that causes fractures, crushes or extensive bleeding.

DocTalk says this:

 

Acute compartment syndrome usually occurs because of trauma. Chronic compartment syndrome is due to recurrent or overuse and often resolves with rest...but can recur with repeated activity.

 

I think I have it in my left biceps. Last Christmas it snowed here like a son of a bitch, and I tried to lift a snow tire out of the back of my SUV and my elbow popped twice. I never lost mobility, but my left arm now slightly looks like I'm making two muscles with my guns.

 

You seem to be describing a bicep rupture