**3. Pathophysiology**

When nerve fibers undergo compression, the response depends on the force applied at the site and the duration. Acute, brief compression results in a focal conduction block as a result of local ischemia, being reversible if the duration of compression is transient. On the other hand, if the focal compression is prolonged, ischemic changes appear, followed by endoneurial edema and secondary perineurial thickening. These histological alterations will aggravate the changes in the microneural circulation and will increase the sensitivity of the neuron sheath to ischemia. If the compression continues, we will find focal demyelina‐ tion, which typically results in a greater involvement of motor than sensory nerve fibers. Even at this point clinical and electrophysiologic signs can resolve within a period of weeks to months.

As the duration of compression increases beyond several hours, more diffuse demyelination will appear, being the last event an injury to the axons themselves. This process begins at the distal end of compression or injury, a process termed wallerian degeneration. These neural changes may not appear at a uniform fashion among the whole neural sheath depending on the distribution of the compressive forces, causing mixed demyelinating and axonal injury resulting from a combination of mechanical distortion of the nerve, ischemic injury, and impaired axonal flow [2].
