Musculo-Fascial Compartments of the Limbs Flashcards
What are fascial compartments?
Anatomically sealed tissue compartments whose walls are formed by thickened, inexpansible and impenetrable envelopes of fascia
What do fascial compartments often contain?
- Muscles/organs/specialised tissues
- Blood supply to tissues
- Venous drainage of tissues
- Neuronal innervation to tissues
- Lymphatics
Characteristics of a musculo-fascial compartment
- Inexpansible
- Impenetrable
- Defined compartment
What do musculo-fascial compartments contain?
- Muscles
- Arteries
- Veins
- Nerves
- Lymphatics
What is necrotizing fasciitis?
- “Flesh eating bacteria”
- Bacterium feeds on fascia and damage spreads along fascial planes
General tissue layers enveloping the body (outside-inwards)
- Skin
- Superficial fascia
- Deep fascia
> Investing layer
> Intermediate layer - Muscles
- Deepest layer of deep fascia
What do fascial compartments of the neck allow?
- Ease of movement during movement, swallowing, etc.
- Forming of natural planes of tissue packing
- Determining of spread of infection
2 main classes of fascia of the neck
- Superficial cervical fascia
- Deep cervical fascia
Types of deep cervical fascia
- Investing fascia
- Pretracheal fascia
- Prevertebral fascia
- Carotid sheaths/alar fascia
Tissue layers of the thigh
- Skin
- Superficial fascia
- Deep fascia (fascia lata)
- Muscles
- Femur
- Intermuscular septa
> Medial
> Lateral
> Posterior - Neurovascular bundle
- Lymph nodes
3 muscular compartments of the thigh
- Anterior compartment
- Medial compartment
- Posterior compartment
Which muscles are found in the anterior compartment of the thigh?
Knee extensors (quadriceps)
Which muscles are found in the medial compartment of the thigh?
Hip adductors
Which muscles are found in the posterior compartment of the thigh?
- Knee flexors
- Hip extensors (hamstrings)
Neural innervation of each muscular compartment of the thigh
- A = femoral nerve (L2-4)
- M = obturator nerve (L2-4)
- P = sciatic nerve (L4-5 + S1-3)
Arterial supply of each muscular compartment of the thigh
- A = femoral artery
- M = obturator artery
- P = perforating branches of profunda femoris
What is the crural fascia and what is it continuous with?
- Deep fascia investing the leg
- Fascia lata
What structures divide the leg into compartments?
- Deep/crural fascia
- Tibia
- Fibula
- Interosseus membrane
3 compartments of the leg
- Anterior compartment
- Lateral compartment
- Posterior compartment
Neural innervation of each compartment of the leg
- A = deep peroneal nerve
- L = superficial peroneal nerve
- P = tibial nerve
3 muscles groups of the posterior compartment of the leg
- Superficial
- Intermediate
- Deep
What is compartment syndrome?
Increased pressure within a muscular compartment, reducing blood supply and causing pain
When does compartment syndrome occur?
When arterial perfusion pressure falls below tissue pressure in a closed anatomical compartment
Causes of compartment syndrome
- Decreased compartment size
- Increased fluid content
> Burns
> Intra-arterial injection
> Infiltrated infusion
> Haemorrhage
> Envenomation
