From the 9th December 2008... during diagnosis...

I was looking back through some emails today from a while ago and thought I'd share them. My first real flare up of Compartment Syndrome was on 24 August 2008. I had actually been managing it without realising from early in the year, and as I got fitter and competed in more Endurance Rides, it never went away.

The message below is from the 9th December 2008 when I was putting out feelers for others who may have been affected by Compartment Syndrome when horse riding.

By this stage I had tried different saddles, different horses and different riding gear... but the pain was just starting to creep in again after taking it very easy for a number of months.


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Hello all,

I'm writing to see if anyone out there has ever had, or known another rider to have dealt with "Compartment Syndrome" in their anterior (outside-of-leg-bone) muscle of their lower leg?

I have developed what I believe to be Chronic Compartment Syndrome, which came together with a LOT of pain in my legs and I couldn't walk for a number of days after my last 80km ride in late August this year....

My biggest problem is getting a Doctor to believe that I could have this problem, and also, getting them to believe that it could possibly be caused by horse riding!

There are a lot of smaller things which I believe have caused it, the main offender being chapettes which were perhaps too tight and didn't allow my muscle to expand properly... pity they felt really comfortable and kept my legs warm in the cold of winter hey?

Anyway, I've been back riding 3 times per week for a number of weeks now, and I've been legging the horse up gradually... now that we've started to trot a bit, I'm getting the same familiar burning feeling... and a number of the variables I thought were playing a role earlier in the year are now gone.. so I'm at a bit of a loss... I think now I have a residual injury.

So... if anyone can please email me privately (or if you wish to the group, but I'm guessing this is a problem most people here won't have heard of!).... I'd love it if people can make suggestions on what they have done or avoided etc with this problem, and also what others have done to get heard properly by their Dr's!

Thanks in advance people...!