Blood flow was studied in traumatized and untraumatized flexor digitorum
longus muscles of rabbits before and after surgical dissection of the
periosteum of the tibia. Neither extraperiosteal nor subperiosteal
dissection diminished blood flow in untraumatized muscles, but when the
muscles had been crushed, only extraperiosteal dissection appeared to
severely compromise their collateral circulation. Because subperiosteal
dissection did not diminish the blood flow in injured muscles, it seems to
offer some advantages as a surgical approach to bone in a severely
traumatized extremity.