Upper extremity compartments: Contents and clinical signs

Compartment	Muscle	Artery	Nerve	Clinical signs
Shoulder and brachium
Anterior	Biceps, brachialis, coracobrachialis	Brachial	Musculocutaneous	Swelling and tenderness of the biceps Rest pain in the anterior side of the brachium Pain caused by passive extension of the elbow
Posterior	Triceps	Profunda brachii	Radial	Swelling and tenderness of the triceps Rest pain in the posterior side of the brachium Pain caused by passive flexion of the elbow Numbness and pain in a distribution innervated by the superficial branch of the radial nerve (radial dorsal side of the hand)
Deltoid	Deltoid	–	Axillary	Swelling and tenderness of the deltoid Rest pain of the lateral side of the shoulder
Forearm
Volar
Superficial	Pronator teres, flexor carpi radialis, palmaris longus, flexor digitorum superficialis, flexor carpi ulnaris	Radial, ulnar	Median, ulnar, anterior interosseous	Numbness, tingling, and rest pain in a distribution of the median and ulnar nerve Rest pain in the volar side of the forearm Pain caused by passive extension of the wrist and fingers
Deep	Flexor pollicis longus, flexor digitorum profundus, pronator quadratus	Radial, ulnar	Median, ulnar, anterior interosseous	Rest pain in the volar side of the forearm Pain caused by passive extension of the wrist and fingers
Dorsal
Superficial	Extensor digitorum communis, extensor digiti minimi, extensor carpi ulnaris	Posterior interosseous	Posterior interosseous	Rest pain in the dorsal side of the forearm Pain caused by passive flexion of the wrist and fingers
Deep	Abductor pollicis longus, extensor pollicis brevis, extensor pollicis longus, extensor indicis proprius, supinator	Posterior interosseous	Posterior interosseous	Rest pain in the dorsal side of the forearm Pain caused by passive flexion of the wrist and fingers
Middle wad	Brachioradialis, extensor carpi radialis longus/brevis	–	Radial	Numbness, tingling, and rest pain in a distribution of the radial nerve Rest pain in the lateral side of the forearm Pain caused by passive extension of the elbow and flexion of the wrist
Hand
Thenar	Abductor pollicis brevis, opponens pollicis, flexor pollicis brevis	Digital	Recurrent motor of median nerve	Swelling and tenderness of the volar radial side of the hand
Hypothenar	Abductor digiti minimi, opponens digiti minimi, flexor digiti minimi	–	Ulnar	Swelling and tenderness of the ulnar side of the hand
Adductor	Adductor pollicis	–	Ulnar	Swelling and tenderness of the radial side of the hand
Interosseous	Interosseous muscles (4 dorsal, 3 palmar)	–	Ulnar	Swelling and tenderness of the dorsal side of the hand
Carpal tunnel	(Tendons) flexor digitorum profundus, flexor digitorum superficialis, flexor pollicis longus	–	Median	Numbness, tingling, and rest pain in thumb, index finger, and middle finger, and the radial half of the ring finger A positive Phalen test^* A positive Tinel sign^¶ in the carpal tunnel
Digit	–	Digital	Digital	Numbness, tingling, and rest pain in the half of the affected finger Pain caused by passive extension of the affected finger Swelling of the finger

* Phalen test: Pain or paresthesia in the median-innervated fingers with more than one minute of wrist flexion. The wrists can be flexed with the arms extended, or the backs of the hands can be placed against each other to provide hyperflexion of the wrist.
¶ Tinel sign: Pain or paresthesia of the median-innervated fingers that occurs with percussion over the median nerve just proximal to the carpal tunnel.

Original table modified for this publication. From: Giladi AM, Chung KC. Fasciotomy for Compartment Syndrome of the Hand and Forearm. In: Operative Techniques: Hand and Wrist Surgery, 3rd ed, Chung KC (Ed), Elsevier 2017. Table used with the permission of Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Upper extremity compartments: Contents and clinical signs