describe the clinical manifestations (6 P’s) of compartment syndrome
Teach patient education concerning compartment syndrome
Damage to limbs, particularly the legs, related to nerve damage and unchecked intra-compartmental pressures were documented as long ago as 1872 by Richard von Volkmann. The combination of nerve-related damage and compartment syndrome causing contracture related to a supracondylar fracture is still referred to as Volkmann contracture. Damage caused by hypertension or ischemia related to the limbs, and the association with rhabdomyolysis, was described by surgeons during World War II in patients who had sustained severe muscle injury. Today compartment syndrome following prolonged pelvic surgery is an uncommon, but a well documented complication.