Should I get compartment symptom surgery

I was in a very similar situation. Was about Sophomore year in college, was running for a small mid-major team. Took them forever to diagnoss me but eventually they said compartment syndrome and I was faced with a similar choice, although does not seem like my case was a severe as yours.

Bottom line, everybody told me to avoid gettig it. However, I was still able to run some just not at the D1 level anymore. Took a year of any serious training or racing and am just now getting into it. Can’t run as many miles or as fast but pretty happy where I am.

I can’t really say what you should do since your situation seems different. I would really try taking a lot more time off (like 6 months)

Sorry man. Know this sucks. Hope things work out.

Thanks for your kind reply. Nice to know that other people are in similar situations here.

I agree that taking 6 months off does sound like the only real alternative to surgery. Personally, I’m skeptical that this would do anything other than delay surgery for 6 months. The situation seems to be getting worse- I didn’t run for about 2 months after track ended, and upon resuming it was back in about 20 miles/4 runs. I stopped running after that, resumed 6 weeks later and it’s back on in 10-12 miles on my third run, spread out over the course of a week. So I don’t have much faith that rest is effective here, and I’m just sick of the pain on every damn run.

How did rest work out for you- have you had any recurrence of symptoms, or are you trying to play it safe and not push to that point? My other concern with rest is that I’ve maybe run 100 miles total since the start of June, yet I’m still getting severe symptoms- which doesn’t inspire confidence that this is going anywhere.

Sorry to vent. I’m wondering what people had to say about the surgery? My only concern is lingering side effects that weren’t present before it, but the surgeon seems to think that won’t be an issue. I’m not as concerned about effects that would only impact running, as I can’t really get any worse from here.

I’ve got until winter break to decide, as that’s when I would have the surgery. If you could let me know your outcomes on rest that would be wonderful.

My compartment syndrome only really acts up during tempo/race efforts (it was an odd case everyone seemed to agree). Short reps with rest usually were fine. Any tempo effort after about 2-3 miles was the killer, and obviously races. Milage was not usually an issue.

Anyways, I took it easy for about 5/6 months (nothing for a month or 2 then really easy milage, started about 10/15 a week, creeped up to ~30) and then got back up into milage. Haven’t had a ton of workout but the few I have done, I hadn’t seen any issues. There was only one time I saw serious symptoms return and that was towards the end of a half-marathon I ran a couple weeks ago and it wasn’t very bad (I kept on pace and finished fine). I have not tried training or competing like I did when I was in college pace and workout wise, but for about a month I got back up to 60-70 miles at about ~7:15 pace and felt great. Even did some light workouts and 20 min. tempos.

My advice would be to take the time off and see, because you will always be better off health wise if you can avoid the surgery and solve the problem with rest. When I was asking around, people told me the surgery is not always great and can limit you going forward, or not solve the problem at all. Don’t want to scare you though, and I hope if you go down that route things go well.

Hope this helps.

I got the surgery, and haven’t had any symptoms since. Saved my running career, and I’ve run massive prs in everything from 400 up through 10k post-op.

Bonkers wrote:

I got the surgery, and haven’t had any symptoms since. Saved my running career, and I’ve run massive prs in everything from 400 up through 10k post-op.

How quickly were you able to function normally? When did running start for you, and what kind of PT did you do post op? This sounds encouraging, though I realize it’s just one experience.

Interestingly enough, mine is much worse when I’m running slower - never had it come on during a race (though only raced up to 3200 with it) and could run 6:00 miles just fine - but if I slowed down, symptoms would occur within minutes. Strange. Still weighing the pros and cons.

I was training with the Santa Monica Track Club in the late 80's for the 400 & 800. I had the surgery and have had no problems since. The only other option I would try is Active Release Technique.

OP where do you live?

Naaaah wrote:

OP where do you live?

In the Midwest. Thinking of having it done at the University of Iowa.

sprinthard wrote:

I was training with the Santa Monica Track Club in the late 80's for the 400 & 800. I had the surgery and have had no problems since. The only other option I would try is Active Release Technique.

Wow - you were running at a much higher level, did the surgery impede you in away way or were you good to go after the recovery period? How quick were you running again?

One of my daughter-in-laws developed compartment syndrome in both calves in college. By her senior year she was losing feeling below her knees on runs and having difficulty training. She got the surgery after graduation and was back to running at an even higher level (mid-17s 5Ks) by 6 months after her surgery. That was more than 10 years ago and she has had no subsequent problems and is still running well and racing locally,

Got the surgery on the 20th. Walked out without crutches but I’m pretty immobile. Seem to have feeling throughout the legs which is a relief. I’ve been elevating quite a bit.

Questions for those who have experience with this:

How soon post op were you able to resume running? Surgeon said 4 weeks, others said 6-8.

When you resumed running, how did you work back into it?

I had it almost three years ago when I was a freshman in college. It started during indoor track and only got worse. I went the surgery route and it saved my running. My surgeon does the full cut to the compartments in the front rather than doing it through a scope and on a screen. It took about 2.5 months total with both surgeries and some rest after the 2nd surgery. Did some minor therapy to correct some form and muscle imbalances caused by the surgery, and it all turned out well. I have zero symptoms and zero shin problems all together since. Hope this helps.

Positive case wrote:

I had it almost three years ago when I was a freshman in college. It started during indoor track and only got worse. I went the surgery route and it saved my running. My surgeon does the full cut to the compartments in the front rather than doing it through a scope and on a screen. It took about 2.5 months total with both surgeries and some rest after the 2nd surgery. Did some minor therapy to correct some form and muscle imbalances caused by the surgery, and it all turned out well. I have zero symptoms and zero shin problems all together since. Hope this helps.

Good to know. You had the legs done separately, in two surgeries?

How much rest did you take, and how did you know when to resume? How gradually did you resume?

Thought I should update. After bilateral four compartment fasciotomies, symptoms remain. Now waiting on more imaging to see why and check for popliteal entrapment.

Hey, I am really sorry about your situation, but in my opinion, you should move on. It is not worth doing an surgery if you won't be able to run properly after you make it. Quit running for now, it is hard, but you don't have a choice actually. Sooner or later you would anyway make a choice. Make it now while isn't too late. Furthermore, technology is developing fastly in our days, and who knows what biomedical engineers and scientists will develop in the next 5 years, maybe they will find a way to fix your problem. You can read more about biomedical engineering and other similar stuff on https://scienceprog.com/how-biomedical-engineers-make-surgeries-safer/, just take your chances and check it out

Compartment Syndrome is not something that will go away on it's own. There are risks with the surgery, but without it you will most likely never run or never run seriously and without pain again. Even if you want to just enjoy running recreationally, you most likely will not be able to do so if you don't have the surgery.

[quote]AdCornish65 wrote:

Hey, I am really sorry about your situation, but in my opinion, you should move on. It is not worth doing an surgery if you won't be able to run properly after you make it. Quit running for now, it is hard, but you don't have a choice actually. Sooner or later you would anyway make a choice. Make it now while isn't too late. Furthermore, technology is developing fastly in our days, and who knows what biomedical engineers and scientists will develop in the next 5 years, maybe they will find a way to fix your problem. You can read more about biomedical engineering and other similar stuff on

https://scienceprog.com/how-biomedical-engineers-make-surgeries-safer/

, just take your chances and check it out[/quote

we are lucky to live in this era actually, because technology is constantly developing