do I have Compartment Syndrome

Hi, I'm a  runner and a bit confused as to what I did to my ankle.  I run only 3 days a week and average around 18-22 miles a week. I was just finishing up a semi hilly run and felt a hot sharp pain shoot up from my right inside ankle into my shin, almost felt like a bad shin splint, had about 1/2 mile to go , so I finished my run in a bit of pain. Never had any issues other than mild shinsplints once in awhile. Long story short: iced and elevated my leg, took Motrin for pain-limped around for 2 weeks, tried slow walking on my treadmill to stretch it out, Still had mild pain. Went to my orthopedic surgeon, had an x-ray and an MRI done. Both came up negative for a sfx. The MRI  stated that I had tissue edema in the area that was sore. My surgeon did not have an answer for me as to what was wrong with my ankle. He said to return to activity as tolerated. I tried a slow run last week and the pain came back as soon as I picked up my pace-it's been 4 days since I tried to jog, and the ankle area is sore but dosent hurt like it did. I have very mild swelling in an area just above my ankle bone on the inside of my right shin. If the area is pressed on, it definitely hurts. The size of the area is about 2x2 section just above the ankle bone. Tomorrow will be 6 weeks of not being able to run. I do walk on my treadmill 3 days a week at a slow pace (3.5) and feel mild, but tolerable pain.  Do I need to go for physical therapy or see a podiatrist for a compartment syndrome compression test??? Help

[Yena H Do, DPM]

this is not a compartment syndrome.  you have some tendons there: tibialis anterior, posterior tibialis...and you also have a muscle there: the peroneus tertius.
sounds like you strained the tendon or muscles.  Ask the surgeon if the MRI showed any tendon involvement.  if not, most likely your tore/strained the peroneus tertius muscle.  Rest, Ice, compression will help.  Physical therapy with ultrasound and iontophoresis will help also.  lastly, wearing an ankle brace/sock will help hold the area in place so you can train without so much pain.  it's been 6 weeks, so the are should have started to heal by now.  if not, you may have to be in a removable cast for a week to calm things down.  anti-inflammatories can help in the meantime.