Leg Pain While Running? Compartment Syndrome Solved Without Surgery

If you or someone you know has chronic exertional compartment syndrome, watch to learn how Taylor went from pain and numbness in her legs while playing field hockey, having surgical fasciotomies on both legs, and still not being able to run. Using the the Movement Rx approach, specialized soft-tissue therapies and exercise prescriptions, she can now run FREE FROM PAIN!
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"A compartment is a region of the body that contains muscles, blood vessels, and nerves, and is surrounded by bones, ligaments and fascia. In compartment syndrome, the pressure in the compartment increases. Because the surrounding structures like fascia are largely inflexible, and the swelling is directed inward. This can restrict blood flow and compress the nerves, leading to pain, tingling, weakness and potentially muscle and nerve damage.
Compartment syndrome can be acute, caused by accidents and fractures that bleed into a compartment and increase the pressure. But in chronic exertional compartment syndrome, the cause of swelling and increased pressure is largely unknown but found in athletes when they do their sport.
In Taylor’s case, playing field hockey and running were triggers for pain, tingling and even weakness in severe instances. And despite rest and other therapies, it would come back every time she ran. Eventually, Taylor had fasciotomy surgeries on each leg. The fascia surrounding the muscles was cut to allow the swelling to go outward. While it got rid of the worst of her symptoms, she still couldn’t run comfortably or confidently.
The muscles in the back of Taylor’s legs were unhealthy as evidenced by limited range of motion and severe tension with the ankle dorsiflexion test. Unhealthy muscles cannot fully lengthen and are painful. We believe that these unhealthy muscles were swelling during a run and causing Taylor’s compartment syndrome.
Instead of just telling Taylor not to run, we wanted to help her meet her goal of pain-free running, and we used the Movement Rx approach to improve the health of her leg muscles. We used a specialized manual therapy to generate tension that breaks up fibrous adhesion in muscles and improves their ability to lengthen. We also used an instrument on the muscles and fascia on the front and side of her legs to release adhesion.
Initially, we saw Taylor for about 8 treatment visits over 4 weeks and during this time Taylor was instructed not to run in order to allow the muscles to heal. The ankle dorsiflexion test improved from 2.5 inches on the right with moderate leg tension to 4.5 inches, with no pain or tension, and from and 3.5 inches on the left with moderation leg tension to 5 inches on the left, with no pain or tension. This, along with what was felt during treatment, told us that the muscles were healthier and ready to be strengthened.
Taylor was extremely diligent with our strengthening exercises and soon after she was ready to return to running. We started with alternating run and walk for limited distances, gradually increasing each week that was pain-free. We also continued to monitor her ankle test and her muscle health. Once she could run at her goal of 20 minutes without pain, and her tests and tissues maintained health, she was discharged from our care."
Posted with patient permission
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