Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
Case ReportTreatment of a Case of Subacute Lumbar Compartment Syndrome Using the Graston Technique
Section snippets
Case Report
A 59-year-old man complained of intermittent lumbar pain of 2 weeks' duration. He worked as a shoe salesman and became aware of his pain especially in the flexed lumbar position. His pain became severe every 2 to 3 months for the ensuing year, causing him to miss work 2 to 3 days at a time. Usually, bed rest and analgesics provided relief. This time his pain continued and although bed rest still relieved him, the pain persisted especially when he flexed forward. Bending backward relieved his
Discussion
It is not uncommon to see patients with low back pain whose symptoms are increased by exercises or activities involving repetitive forward flexion and are relieved by rest and backward extension. Often, these patients do not have neurologic deficits in their lower extremities. Styf and Lysell20 mention these symptoms in a diagnosis of “chronic compartment syndrome” in the erector spinae muscle. The treatment described was fasciotomy of the erector spinae muscles which normalized the
Conclusion
This case describes the treatment of a patient with subacute lumbar compartment syndrome using the GT. Previous descriptions of treatment for this syndrome involve surgical intervention to normalize intramuscular pressures. In this case study, it is hypothesized that intramuscular pressures were normalized after instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization and stretching. Future prospective research is needed to quantify lumbar compartmental pressures before and after intervention.
Acknowledgments
The authors thank Sarah B. Kucera for her assistance with this project.
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