Pressure Test

I have had some questions about my pressure test, so I thought that a blog post was in order.  The doctor warned me that the test would be painful.  She made it sound like it was going to be awful so I prepared myself for the worst.  The first thing the she did was mark the locations on my legs with an ink pen.  She decided to test by the anterior compartment (which is where I have do much pain) and then the deep interior compartment.  After that she spray on some numbing agent and then she injected me with some lidocaine to numb the skin.  This hurt, but it wasn't too bad.  She warned me that she isn't able to numb the muscle, so the test would still be painful.

After all four locations where numb she measured the pressure at those four locations.  To my surprise, it really wasn't painful.  The numbing shots were much more painful.  These were the baseline measurements.  

The next step was the worse--getting my legs to hurt.  Fortunately it doesn't take long for my shin to flare.  She put me on the treadmill and had me jog for a bit and then walk.  About 5 minutes in it started to hurt like crazy and then she wanted me to go for a couple more minutes and I did.  I hadn't made my legs flare of up like this in awhile, so it definitely hurt.    Then we went back to the office and had to wait for 5 minutes before the rest of the test.  This was the most painful part of the test...my legs really hurt, but it is a pain that I know since I have been dealing with it for so long.  

After 5 minutes she measured the pressure again, which included 4 more pokes.  This wasn't really painful, but I think that it was because the shins hurt so much already.  And that was it.  Bandaids and orders to rest and not exercise for a couple of days.  

One of the good things is that you get the results immediately.  My results were very clearly positive, so that was really a relief.  I am so glad to see a light at the end of this tunnel!  This pain has been going on for way too long and it just seems to be getting worse.  I also talked to my ND and he said that compartment syndrome (especially with numbers like mine) can be dangerous.  So, as weird as it sounds, I am so excited for my surgery!