| External compression |
| During anaesthesia, coma, sleep, bed rest |
| Plaster casts, braces |
| Habitual leg crossing |
| Sitting cross-legged |
| Prolonged squatting, kneeling |
| Direct trauma |
| Blunt injuries, lacerations |
| Fractures of the fibula |
| Adduction injuries and dislocations of the knee |
| Surgery and arthroscopy in popliteal fossa and knee |
| Traction injuries |
| Acute ankle injuries |
| Masses |
| Ganglia, Baker’s cysts, callus, fibular tumours, osteomas, haematomas |
| Tumours |
| Nerve sheath tumours |
| Nerve sheath ganglia |
| Lipomas |
| Entrapment |
| In the fibular tunnel |
| Anterior (tibial) compartment syndrome |
| Vascular |
| Vasculitis, local vascular disease |
| Diabetes mellitus: susceptibility to compression, ischaemic damage |
| Leprosy |
| Idiopathic |