Even at home, chowing down on a big steak or going on a high-protein diet can stress your kidneys and add to swelling. It takes just a few hours for a fascial injury to start producing enough damaged tissue that your kidneys have trouble processing the protein waste products. Limit the amount of protein in your diet.You may have to spend as much time as possible "nose higher than toes" if you have an injury to your legs or arms and hands propped up on a high table if you have an injury to your arms or hands. You don't want it lower, because that increases pressure in the injured fascia. You don't want it higher, because that limits circulation to the injured fascia. During healing, keep the injured compartment at the same level as your heart.However, once you have had medical treatment, there are things you can do to minimize pain. Only a doctor can do the emergency treatment. Often a fasciotomy, opening the fascia, has to be performed first before treating the underlying injury to prevent not just intense pain but death of muscle tissue. Athletes and soldiers who do hard exercise can develop compartment syndrome even without an injury.
Something as simple as drawing blood for a blood test can result in compartment syndrome. The blood thinners (anticoagulants) make it easier for blood to flow in, but even a tiny injury can make it hard for blood to flow out. However, they can also occur in patients on blood thinners. Medical intervention may become necessary.įascial injuries are especially common after gunshot wounds, broken bones, crushing injuries, and stabbings. Swelling leads to ischemia (a failure of blood circulation), which leads to the secretion of more histamine, which leads to more swelling. They don't have a lot of "give." They are also highly sensitive to pain. The fascia function by being stiff enough to transmit muscle motion. When blood and fluid can go into the compartment but can't come out, there is swelling. They can get "stuck" in small blood vessels. The tissues also send out a chemical signal to the immune system to send out specialized white blood cells known as macrophages to clean up dead or injured tissue. When a muscle or the bone underneath it or the tendon attaching it to the bone are injured, there is a secretion of histamine (the same chemical that causes allergies) to make sure that the injured tissue gets the blood and nutrients it needs to heal. Blood also has to circulate through the same tiny vessels as it returns to the veins to carry waste products and carbon dioxide out of the compartment. There can be lots of blood vessels that have a kind of blind end where they meet fascia, and blood has to travel through tiny, narrow vessels to reach the muscles and nerves inside. The deep fascia around muscles or groups of muscles don't have their own blood supply.
There are fascia in your buttocks, feet, shoulders, and core muscles. There are six compartments in each of your wrists, and ten in each of your hands. You have fascial compartments for your upper arms and thighs, and for your forearms and the muscles below the knee. Deep fascia focus the power of a muscle into directions that optimize easy motion.Ī fascial compartment contains muscles and nerves that work together, surrounded by fascia. And there are deep fascia that surround individual muscles or groups of muscles.
There are visceral fascia around organs that keep them from prolapse, plopping into a floppy shape. There are superficial fascia that are the lowest layer of the skin. They are bands of collagen that surround organs and muscles and keep them from having to move as if they were glued to bones and skin. The fascia are one of the body's most important tissues, but most people have never even heard of them.