Rehabilitation and return to activity criteria after operative management of chronic exertional compartment syndrome of the leg: a systematic review

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Endurance athletes with chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) frequently require fasciotomy to return to activity, but there are no existing comprehensive evidence-based rehabilitation guidelines. We aimed to summarize rehabilitation protocols and return to activity criteria after CECS surgery.

Methods

Through a systematic literature review, we identified 27 articles that explicitly defined physician-imposed restrictions or guidelines for patients to resume athletic activities following CECS surgery.

Results

Common rehabilitation parameters included running restrictions (51.9%), postoperative leg compression (48.1%), immediate postoperative ambulation (44.4%), and early range of motion exercises (37.0%). Most studies (70.4%) reported return to activity timelines, but few (11.1%) utilized subjective criteria for guiding return to activity. No studies utilized objective functional criteria.

Conclusions

Rehabilitation and return to activity guidelines after CECS surgery remain poorly defined, and further investigation is needed to develop such guidelines that will enable endurance athletes to safely return to activities and minimize recurrence.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic exertional compartment syndrome
• CECS
• fasciotomy
• return to activity
• rehabilitation

Disclosure statement

The authors report there are no competing interests to declare.

Supplemental data

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/00913847.2023.2214192

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.