The Daily Campus

Issue date: 10/10/07 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Ryan Sayers Shauna Musser appeared in five games this year after major surgery.

Throughout life, every person may face an obstacle standing in his or her way to success, and women's soccer player Shauna Musser is no exception. The road to playing the game has not been an easy one for her, as she found herself dealing with a relatively rare condition called chronic compartment syndrome, which doctors are still trying to understand.

Chronic compartment syndrome starts when athletes who are involved in weight-bearing activities experience an increase in their training regimens and are constantly on their feet. Because of this amount of time standing, athletes' blood starts to pool in their ankles and calves. If the body cannot get the blood circulating fast enough, pressure begins to build inside the four compartments, or group of muscles, of the lower leg, according to one of the team's trainers, Caitie Dann. This builds up the pressure inside the compartments.

"Occasionally there will be no pulse," Dann said.

Musser learned about the problem after straining her calf during preparation for her freshman season. She red-shirted the year and though she did not believe that the calf injury was the cause, it was soon after that her troubles began.

"It felt like there were weights around my calves,î she said. ìIt wasn't so bad the first semester - I mean it hurt - but the spring season was pretty tough. It got progressively worse."

Dann classified chronic compartment syndrome as a complex problem, though she could not specifically speak about Musser's situation due to patient confidentiality laws.

"It's a common uncommon, if that makes sense," she said.

In Musser's case, workout and rehab routines only aggravated her condition. Trainers originally thought that she had a muscle strain and treated it as such, putting heat on her legs - something she later discovered was one of the worst things she could do for her condition.

"We were doing five stadiums [running up and down the stadium stairs] every day," she said, explaining how the repetitive pounding of her legs against the concrete did more damage.

After a season of frustration and pain, Musser went back home to Arizona. She had done some research on the Internet and had called her club coach to see if he could look into the condition. Doctors there told her she might have chronic compartment syndrome based on the symptoms she had, but no tests were done. Instead of surgery, Musser tried taking a natural approach to healing. After playing one game that summer, she felt that everything was OK.

Continued...

Page 1 of 4 next >

Article Tools