COMPARTMENT PRESSURE MONITORING OF THE FOOT WITH GRADED EXERCISES, METATARSAL FRACTURES AND ANKLE INJURIES

In addition to the importance of compartment syndrome in the lower leg, a growing interest is being shown in the muscle compartments of the foot region. The standard pressure rates in the muscle compartments of the foot comprise up to 4 kPa for men and up to 2.5 kPa for women. During graded exercise (n = 9) on the treadmill the pressure increased in line with the strain and declined again rapidly when the exercise stopped without showing any significant differences in pressure between the muscle compartments studied. In metatarsal and ankle joint fractures post-traumatic pressures were found which were as high as or higher than after 20 minutes on the treadmill and would make the development of a compartment syndrome possible. This points to the necessity of measuring the pressure in the muscle compartments of the patient's foot when there is a clinical suspicion of a compartment syndrome.