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Endurance Sports Medicine pp 113–125Cite as

Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome

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Abstract

Chronic exertional compartment syndrome is characterized by pain that is associated with exercise or physical training that commonly necessitates cessation of the inciting activity and can therefore be of significant concern for athletes. Classically a condition of runners, it is caused by an increase in pressure within a fascial compartment that results from muscular function during exercise. Chronic exertional compartment syndrome should be on the differential for any athlete presenting with chronic exercise-induced pain of the leg; proper clinical history, physical exam, and diagnostic work-up will differentiate it from other etiologies of this common presenting complaint. This topic has historically been characterized by some degree of debate with regard to the specific indications and varying methods of both diagnostic management and treatment. As conservative measures have proved largely ineffective, the mainstay of treatment for this condition is surgical release of the fascial compartment involved. There are several techniques for this procedure described in the literature that have proven successful.

Keywords

  • Compartment syndrome
  • Exertional
  • Compartmental monitoring
  • Leg pain
  • Endurance athlete
  • Running
  • Fasciotomy
  • Fasciectomy
  • Shin splints
  • Tibial pain
  • Stress fracture
  • Intermittent claudication

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sports Medicine, Inova Health System, 8110 Gatehouse Road, Suite 200E, Falls Church, VA, 22042, USA

    Robin West

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, 3800 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, DC, 20009, USA

    Joseph Ferguson

  3. Georgetown University School of Medicine, 3900 Reservoir Rd., NW, Washington, DC, 20009, USA

    Alexander Butler

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  1. Robin West
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  2. Joseph Ferguson
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  3. Alexander Butler
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Correspondence to Robin West .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Gahanna, Ohio, USA

    Timothy L Miller

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West, R., Ferguson, J., Butler, A. (2016). Chronic Exertional Compartment Syndrome. In: Miller, T. (eds) Endurance Sports Medicine. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32982-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32982-6_9

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