Olympic Skier Lindsey Vonn Revealed She Had Compartment Syndrome. Here's What That Means

Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn’s compartment syndrome scare explained

One of nan U.S.’s astir dressed up downhill skiers, Lindsey Vonn, revealed she almost had to person her limb amputated because of a life-threatening condition.

By Claire Maldarelli edited by Claire Cameron

Photo by Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP via Getty Images

Downhill skier Lindsey Vonn has won plaudits not only for her expertise successful her athletics but besides for her capacity to endure. By committing to compete contempt tearing her anterior cruciate ligament conscionable much than a week earlier her arena successful this year’s Winter Olympics, nan dressed up American skier collapsed conscionable seconds into her race, fracturing her near limb successful respective places. And in an Instagram station connected Monday, she revealed that her wounded was moreover much analyzable and life-threatening than we knew.

The Olympic skier revealed that she developed compartment syndrome, an uncommon but superior information that tin beryllium threatening to a person’s life and limb.

We asked experts to explicate what compartment syndrome is and why it is truthful dangerous.

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What is compartment syndrome?

Every musculus and organ successful nan assemblage is encased successful a reliable furniture of insubstantial called fascia. Jason Lee, main of vascular room astatine nan Stanford University School of Medicine, compares it to a bladed letter cover aliases sleeve.

Fascia keeps your muscles successful spot erstwhile you are running, for example, and stops your organs from huddled together astir erstwhile you cough aliases sneeze. But this tissue’s sturdiness tin person downsides.

After personification experiences a important trauma to their body—such arsenic a high-speed skis clang that fractures their leg—the surrounding muscles tin quickly bleed and swell. As nan swelling increases, unit successful nan area betwixt nan musculus and nan fascia builds. But because nan fascia is truthful strong, it tin withstand that pressure. That tin go a problem: if nan unit rises excessively much, it impedes humor travel to nan area. Eventually, nan humor stops flowing entirely, which tin consequence successful insubstantial decease and nervus damage—that’s compartment syndrome.

“That’s wherever it ends up being a limb-threatening condition,” says Matthew Apicella, a expert astatine NYU Langone Health, who is double-certified successful emergency and sports medicine.

“When you commencement to get insubstantial harm aliases insubstantial necrosis, which is erstwhile that insubstantial starts to die, nan lit will opportunity that that tin hap conscionable 4 to 8 hours aft compartment syndrome starts to happen,” he says.

What are nan symptoms of compartment syndrome?

Not everyone pinch an wounded for illustration Vonn’s will acquisition compartment syndrome. Apicella says that existent investigation suggests it occurs successful anyplace from 1 to 10 percent of each fractures, and it is much communal successful nan agelong bones successful nan body. And, Lee says, “the much terrible nan injury, nan higher nan likelihood of processing compartment syndrome.”

Both he and Apicella opportunity that 1 of nan cardinal ways doctors spot compartment syndrome is erstwhile a personification starts to acquisition extreme, unexpectedly precocious degrees of pain. “In aesculapian training, we are taught to look for nan 5 ‘P’s,’” says Apicella. The first P stands for symptom that is retired of proportionality to nan exam. The different P’s are pallor, paresthesia, which intends tingling aliases numbness successful nan area, paralysis and pulselessness successful nan affected limb.

When personification has compartment syndrome, nan first P tin beryllium a giveaway: “When you property connected [the wounded site], it doesn’t wounded that overmuch because there’s often numbness, but they are sitting location successful excruciating discomfort,” Lee says.

How to dainty compartment syndrome

Compartment syndrome is marked by a buildup of pressure, truthful nan only existent curen for nan information is to relieve that pressure. “If you conscionable fto thing swell and swell and swell, nan tegument will virtually break,” Lee says.

To forestall that and to get humor flowing again, doctors execute what’s called a fasciotomy, which is fundamentally a controlled break of nan skin. Long, heavy incisions are made connected either broadside of nan injury, allowing nan swollen muscles immoderate room to move and relieving nan buildup of pressure.

“A fasciotomy tin beryllium a life- and limb-saving process where, if you determine not to make nan trim and fto it expand, nan nervus tin die, starring to imperishable musculus harm that ne'er allows a personification to locomotion again, or, worst lawsuit scenario, nan request for amputation,” Lee says. But it besides intends a longer and much analyzable recovery, he says, because you person to heal from nan incisions arsenic good arsenic nan original injury.

And while he can’t remark straight connected Vonn’s case, Lee says that sometimes nan information tin really beryllium triggered by nan surgeries needed to hole nan original injury.

Immediately aft a room for illustration Vonn’s, successful which doctors realign nan bone, a arena called reperfusion happens, Lee says. In reperfusion, nan surrounding tissues that had been starved of humor travel and oxygen abruptly get humor travel back. This accelerated return tin really make swelling moreover worse and compartment syndrome much likely.

Both experts stress that for nan mundane athlete, compartment syndrome is not common, but it is thing to beryllium alert of. “It is important to cognize that if you person a fracture and you commencement to get worsening pain, past it’s clip to activity aesculapian attraction to get evaluated by personification who is going to norm retired those signs for compartment syndrome,” Apicella says.