A Bit of an Explanation
Hello Everyone.
You may have noticed that I haven't made any race reviews in a while. I am here to tell you that I will not have another for a while. I, unfortunately, have been recently diagnosed with CECS or chronic exertional compartment syndrome (for short, I will be calling this CS).
What is compartment syndrome?
CS is a disorder that when you exercise, (for me, it occurs when I run, bike, walk, and elliptical), your muscles expand to a point where the compartment or fascia surrounding the muscle cannot take. When this occurs, the oxygen supply is cut off to the muscles and they fall asleep. The best way of thinking of this is to imagine a balloon in a waterbottle. The balloon is the muscle and the waterbottle is the surrounding fascia. When you inflate the balloon, this is showing the muscle expanding. The muscle can only expand so much. This is what is going on inside my legs. About a mile and a half in during a run, I lose feeling in my toes and feet and it works its way up my lower leg. It is not comfortable.
What was the testing like?
To be honest, not fun. What they did was have me lie down on a table and my doctor stuck a needle in the four compartments of my leg and measured the resting pressure in each compartment. The amounts were high, but not too bad, but typically a normal resting pressure in an individual without compartment syndrome is between 0-4 mmHg. My lowest was between a 5 & 7 mmHg in the posterior compartments and the lateral compartment. The highest was at 10 mmHg in my anterior compartment. After measuring resting pressures, my doctor had me jump on the treadmill and run until my symptoms began, then push myself past it. I then had to get back on the table and they remeasured the pressures. Most of my compartments hovered between 17-21 mmHg after exercise, but the anterior compartment did increase to 30 mmHg. This compartment is my worst, with the lateral compartment following behind. I still have the 8 holes in my leg, which I have been referring to this leg as my "pope" leg. (Why? Because its holy. Ba-dum-tis).
Now what?
Compartment syndrome, although not very fun, it does have a solution. I can either stop running altogether, which will not be going on, or I can get a fasciotomy (a surgery that will open the fascia and allow my muscles to expand easilier. I will be proceeding with the surgery, but I have not set a date yet. My doctor has let me know that I will only have to have the anterior/outer portion of both legs done rather than have both sides of both legs. I will be continuing to update everyone with every step and let you know how recovery is going and how I am feeling. This will not be the most fun experience, but hey, if I can eventually run again with no pain, I will be happy. And don't worry. I will still be putting up my monthly calendar and be doing shoe updates, (I actually have about 6 of them that I need to post, sorry). Just stay tuned for everything!
Like I said, I wanted to update everyone, especially because from what it sounds like, I wont be running another race until 2017. I will try to do as many shoe updates as I can before I have my legs sliced open, but I will miss a few updates after I get it done. I will still be posting a calendar and might add a few new features to this blog, but keep an eye out for whatever I end up doing!
Kelsey
You may have noticed that I haven't made any race reviews in a while. I am here to tell you that I will not have another for a while. I, unfortunately, have been recently diagnosed with CECS or chronic exertional compartment syndrome (for short, I will be calling this CS).
What is compartment syndrome?
CS is a disorder that when you exercise, (for me, it occurs when I run, bike, walk, and elliptical), your muscles expand to a point where the compartment or fascia surrounding the muscle cannot take. When this occurs, the oxygen supply is cut off to the muscles and they fall asleep. The best way of thinking of this is to imagine a balloon in a waterbottle. The balloon is the muscle and the waterbottle is the surrounding fascia. When you inflate the balloon, this is showing the muscle expanding. The muscle can only expand so much. This is what is going on inside my legs. About a mile and a half in during a run, I lose feeling in my toes and feet and it works its way up my lower leg. It is not comfortable.
 |
| This is an image of what the compartments in the leg look like. |
To be honest, not fun. What they did was have me lie down on a table and my doctor stuck a needle in the four compartments of my leg and measured the resting pressure in each compartment. The amounts were high, but not too bad, but typically a normal resting pressure in an individual without compartment syndrome is between 0-4 mmHg. My lowest was between a 5 & 7 mmHg in the posterior compartments and the lateral compartment. The highest was at 10 mmHg in my anterior compartment. After measuring resting pressures, my doctor had me jump on the treadmill and run until my symptoms began, then push myself past it. I then had to get back on the table and they remeasured the pressures. Most of my compartments hovered between 17-21 mmHg after exercise, but the anterior compartment did increase to 30 mmHg. This compartment is my worst, with the lateral compartment following behind. I still have the 8 holes in my leg, which I have been referring to this leg as my "pope" leg. (Why? Because its holy. Ba-dum-tis).
 |
| The testing. I only had one leg done, but you can see, the needle goes in, the large tool measures the pressure. |
Now what?
Compartment syndrome, although not very fun, it does have a solution. I can either stop running altogether, which will not be going on, or I can get a fasciotomy (a surgery that will open the fascia and allow my muscles to expand easilier. I will be proceeding with the surgery, but I have not set a date yet. My doctor has let me know that I will only have to have the anterior/outer portion of both legs done rather than have both sides of both legs. I will be continuing to update everyone with every step and let you know how recovery is going and how I am feeling. This will not be the most fun experience, but hey, if I can eventually run again with no pain, I will be happy. And don't worry. I will still be putting up my monthly calendar and be doing shoe updates, (I actually have about 6 of them that I need to post, sorry). Just stay tuned for everything!
Like I said, I wanted to update everyone, especially because from what it sounds like, I wont be running another race until 2017. I will try to do as many shoe updates as I can before I have my legs sliced open, but I will miss a few updates after I get it done. I will still be posting a calendar and might add a few new features to this blog, but keep an eye out for whatever I end up doing!
Kelsey
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