🚨 Things that make an orthopedic surgeon’s Ancef pump beat a little faster… 🦵 Tense, firm compartments → super tight compartments + pain out of proportion to exam = 🚨 concern for COMPARTMENT SYNDROME → Rising pressure → ↓ perfusion → muscle & nerve ischemia → ⏳ irreversible damage can start within hours… this is a surgical emergency (fasciotomy NOW) 🩸 Pulseless extremity → No pulse ≠ just “check again”… think 🚨 ARTERIAL INJURY → Could be laceration, thrombosis, or vascular spasm after trauma → Cold, pale limb + no Doppler signal = ⏳ limb viability at risk → urgent revascularization 🔥 Spreading erythema → Redness that’s rapidly expanding = not your routine cellulitis 😬 → Think 🚨 NECROTIZING FASCIITIS → Pain out of proportion, systemic toxicity, skin changes (bullae, necrosis) → 🦠 “Time is tissue” → emergent debridement + broad-spectrum antibiotics 🚫 Absent motor function → Can be 🧠 or peripheral → Peripheral: nerve injury (radial, ulnar, median, etc.) from trauma/compress...