I just wanted to give a recommendation for anyone in the Philly area looking for a surgeon for compartment syndrome.
On Dec. 23rd I had Dr. Sennett from UPenn release my anterior and lateral compartments on both legs. When they pressure tested me my highest reading was 55. The procedure he does only needs two 3cm incisions on each leg instead of the classic 4-6 inch incision. Since the day of the surgery I haven’t had to take any form of pain meds, nor have I had any swelling/bruising, or even any bleeding or weeping from the incisions. I walked the day after the surgery without crutches and have been walking mostly pain free already for the last few days (3 days after the surgery I was walking around the mall doing returns and what not with very little pain). Though he has told me not to do anything yet, I could easily bike at a lower intensity right now pain free.
Of course the forever skeptics of everything will say I won’t truly know for a month how good of a job he did…regardless the man is a boss at what he does and I wouldnt hesitate to go back to him. If you need help, I would say this is the man to go to.
thinking about having this surgery too. from Lancaster pa so looking at Philly doctors. did he give you time frame for recovery? what was the time frame from diagnosis to surgery? did you have to get MRI / an pre testing. glad to hear you like the doctor.
I actually grew up in Lancaster as well. I had to get a referral from my family physician who gave me a bone scan and an x-ray to rule out a few other things. He has known me my whole life and knows that if I come in its normally my very last resort. My first appointment with the UPenn office was just a consultation. 2nd appt consisted of the pressure testing which really is a good time. 3rd appt was to meet the surgeon and set up the surgery. The whole process from start to finish took about 2 months. 4 weeks of that was waiting on my surgery, the rest was me finding time in my schedule to make the appointments.
As far as recovery, He told me I can swim as soon as the stitches are taken out on Tuesday (11 days post-op) and still wants me to wait 2 more weeks before I bike and 2 more weeks after that before I run. Something tells me I wont be waiting the full amount of time for either since I am already 95% pain free in my daily routines.
I had the pain for over a year though so that may have been part of the reason why they had no problem jumping right to surgery, and my pressure tests were more than positive as well. Any other questions let me know, good luck.