406 THE JOURNAL OF BONE AND JOINT SURGERY Weight-Lifting as a Cause of Compartment Syndrome in the Forearm

Compartment syndromes in the volar part of the forearm have been described following Colles fractures4, prolonged compression of the forearm in comatose pa-tients5, trauma2, direct arterial injury4, and even relatively minor injury to the palm of the hand ’. The object of this paper is to report a case caused by weight-lifting. Case Report A thirty-year-old female physical therapist who was in excellent health first noted some mild discomfort in the right forearm that she at-tributed to the vigorous weight-lifting that she had done earlier that same day. After two days, the discomfort had become more bothersome and there was sharp pain on movement ofthe fingers. She was first seen by us at that time. The patient denied any direct blow or injury to the right forearm. The local physical findings were slight swelling and erythema on the volar surface of the forearm, tenderness to palpation along the flexor ten-dons, and pain with passive extension of the fingers. The provisional diagnosis was tenosynovitis of the flexor tendons, and she was sent home with instructions to rest the extremity and use hot packs. A non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agent was prescribed. She returned two days later with complaints of increased swelling and pain in the right forearm, and on examination the erythema and swelling had increased. A 70-degree flexion deformity of the long and ring fingers was evident. The volar compartment was tense and there wa