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)
