A healthy 20-year-old woman developed acute ischemia of the lateral compartment of
both calves shortly after a 30-minute horse ride. On one side, she developed compartment
syndrome with resultant complete myonecrosis of the compartment, whereas on the other
side, there was spontaneous resolution. To our knowledge, this is the first report
of bilateral lateral compartment ischemia after horse riding. Atraumatic compartment
syndrome is a rare entity and is often missed at initial presentation. We discuss
aspects of her management together with a review of the literature. Late fasciotomy
and exploration may be beneficial in decompressing the deep peroneal nerve in peroneal
compartment syndrome. Awareness of atraumatic compartment syndrome is important in
any case of limb pain and swelling.
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Article Info
Publication History
Accepted:
November 6,
2008
Received:
October 27,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2009 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
