Volkmann syndrome, also known as ischaemic forearm muscle retraction, is the consequence of a compartment syndrome that has not been adequately treated

What is Volkmann syndrome?
Volkman syndrome is the consequence of muscle death, usually affecting the forearm. It is a process secondary to what is called compartment syndrome, which has not been identified. This causes the muscles to somehow die and in that process of death, finger retraction occurs.

Causes and risk factors
Volkman syndrome occurs when muscles become inflamed by trauma or fracture or haemorrhage. They swell within an enclosed space.
What happens? In this process the muscle does not breathe, there is no oxygen exchange and when there is no oxygen exchange the muscle dies.

If you wait too long or too much time has passed since the trauma, the muscle dies. And depending on the degree of initial trauma and the length of time the surgery was delayed, Volkman’s syndrome can be mild, moderate or severe.

Symptoms and diagnosis
The only major alarm symptom a patient should have is pain. If a patient has a lot of pain after a fracture, after a reduction, after surgery, it is not good. It should not go without an assessment because the result of not detecting it is catastrophic.
Treatment and management
Volkman is a complication that can be treated with surgery, which has a solution. But the problem with it is that it is much easier to treat compartment syndrome if it is caught at the right time. If it is treated in the right way, there are no sequelae. The sequelae is scarring.

The surgery for Volkman syndrome consists of resecting all the muscles that are dead and replacing them with healthy muscle. This healthy muscle is taken from the leg, where it does not represent any functional loss.