Compartmant Syndrom

[Big Sky Guy]

So I have been training for a PT test that has a 1.5 mile run. No big deal a few years ago, but I had a groin tear last June and a quad tear this Feb. I have not done much running the past year, so I asked my wife (Gen-Jillian) to prep me for the run.

Training is moving right along over the past 45 + days, times are going down, lungs are doing well and I passed the local PT test so I can go to my training. The only thing really slowing me down is a touchy left achilles, and the right calf which is compensating for the achilles. I have been icing them several times a day and hitting ibuprof when the swelling is bad.

I ran the PT about 45 seconds faster than any of my training runs and had some cramping in the front outer calves after finishing. I walked it off and they settled down after some icing and rest that day.

About a week later I went for a run with the wife up on a trail and had the worst calf pump I have ever had in my life. It was only about a mile of running and I tried to walk it off for a half mile and we wondered if Gen was going to have to go get the pickup. Icing and ibu settled it down and we figured I just did not warm up enough...but then I started to notice the next day that most of my achilles (the one that has been giving me trouble) is numb. Been several days since that run and it is still numb.

From the research I have done it sounds like chronic compartment syndrom. Does that sound right?

And what options do I have considering I have the First Sergeant school starting in mid-Sept and I have to run regularly for about 3 weeks. I am not even sure if I should keep riding my bike to work very often right now in order to give it the rest it needs.

I am considering going in to a PT so I can at least get a diagnosis and if it is I can take that with me to the school.

[Killer]

It sounds like it. I would go to the PT and have then verify. I know it can be extremely painful. I had a similar condition in the summer before my senior year of college football. I took a week of or so off and it resolved.

Are you holding water? Using and AI?

[Big Sky Guy]

Hitting the sodium a bit more than normal as it is summer and craving salt due to sweating....that may be causing a touch of bloating.

About 400-500 T per week and using a couple squirts of AIFM a day.

What has me worried is my achilles and outer portion of my foot all the way to the toes is numb.

[Killer]

Numbness is never a good thing. Go see someone ASAP. Let us know what happens.

[Big Sky Guy]

Went in yesterday....Doc said it is rare for someone my age to have compartment issues, but it can happen. He is working from the position of ruling out what it was not = X-ray to check for stress fract and bone tumor, then he ran some doppler imaging and sent me to a vascular specialist to rule out a blood clot. Everything looks fine.

Next step: Tomorrow I go in over lunch and have him check me over and take measurements and then go run till I cant stand it and head back into the office and re-check.

[canecorso]

I had compartment syndrome to my left calf back in 2001....Imy leg was pinned between a dock plate and a trailer at work.....it swelled up to 3 times normal size, I needed immediate surgury...had that done, they left the calf open for 5 days, then had another surgury to repair the muscles...then stitched me up, I took, 20 stiches on each side of my left calve....to this day, my left calve is larger than my right , it is still numb in places, looks deformed...spent several weeks in PT...took a long time to walk normal, and to train heavy..but I did it......not to mention it fucking hurt the a fucker, before during and after...

[Big Sky Guy]

cc - that is one of the ways one gets compartment syndrom. Acute trauma, such as crushing, that causes bleeding in the compartment at a rate that the body cannot pump it out. Glad your surg went well and you got back to heavy training.

[Killer]

Yeah, acute compartment syndrome is not to be fcked with.

Big Sky, let us know what he says. Maybe you are one of the unlucky few. I do not know if I had it or not, just know it hurt bad. I jumped the fence to get into the track to run sprints and could not climb out. With that being said, I never saw it in the athletic training setting.

[Big Sky Guy]

Tried to make it repeat today and could not...I ran myself into the ground, which is about 25 min for me! Both tendons were shot, but had no real issues with the calves. I was running on 7 days rest this time, so wonder if it is just a cummulative trauma to the calf with running hard every 3 days???

He ran some ultrasound and checked for tears and how the blood was flowing and found nothing remarkable He took me out and had me run while he watched and then explained that I was striking on the outer portion of the ball of the foot and that I needed to stretch my achilles out so I could run a bit more heel-toe. We discussed being a large athletic guy that my tendons simply cannot handle the toe striking.

He then suggested I needed to stretch more! I laughed while he wrote out a recommendation for 4-6 sessions of deep tissue massage for the calves and and suggested I not run until the PT test in 2.5 weeks, just cross train.

Let you know how the deep tissue goes..