The foot anatomically consists of multiple small compartments. These compartments are filled with muscles, nerves and tendons and are lined by a tight membrane (the fascia). These are anatomically distinct compartments. When injury to the foot occurs, there is commonly some bleeding that occurs in the muscles that causes swelling of the foot. What is often not understood, however, is that when swelling gets severe, the muscle starts to expand.
The lining membrane (the fascia) of each of these small compartments has a limited capacity to expand. If the muscle and fluid swelling inside the compartment become significant, they may exceed the capacity of blood flow in and out of the small compartments. If this occurs, it is called a compartment syndrome. This can be a very serious problem. If the pressure inside the compartment increases too much, the nerves and muscles start to get squeezed and stop functioning properly.
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