Determination of the utility of near-infrared spectroscopy in the study of exertional myalgia and chronic exertional compartment syndrome in musicians’ forearms

The non-invasive and real-time near-infrared spectrometry (NIRS) has been proven to distinguishbetween individuals with chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) and healthy individuals based on a significantly lower tissue oxygenation index (TOI) or tissue saturation index (TSI), during exercise provocation. The use of abnormal Intracompartmental pressure values remain as the most solid method to diagnose individuals as CECS. However, supposedly healthy individuals with CECS-like criteria in terms of abnormal ICP values are harder to distinguish and require further looking into each patient's medical history. In addition, as the nature of the method is quite prone to cause discomfort in subjects and is not risk-free, an alternative methodology that causes less discomfort and is less time consuming may be preferable. Our results reinforce the real-time NIRS measurement as being a fair non-invasive replacement for direct ICP measure to detect CECS indirectly, focusing on the TOI trace.