The muscles in your lower legs or forearms are enclosed in compartments by a strong fibrous substance called fascia. If the fascia is too tight, when the muscles swell with the increased blood flow of exercise, this will result in pain due to the rise in pressure.

Exercise-associated leg or arm pain is usually managed with physiotherapy treatments. When these have been tried, sometimes a surgical treatment is needed. Before having surgery it is important to test the pressure in the muscle with exercise to find out whether an operation will help. This test is performed in the clinic, using an ultrasound-guided technique.