5 Encouraging Facts About Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

A neurological condition that causes localized pain throughout your body, complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) most often affects the hands, causing pain, sensory symptoms, skin changes, and more. 

At Florida Pain Management Institute in Delray Beach and Boynton Beach, Florida, we specialize in treating CPRS. Early diagnosis usually means more effective treatment and a better long-term prognosis. 

What is CRPS? 

Essentially, CRPS is an overreaction of your nervous system, resulting in pain and other symptoms that are out of proportion to the stimulus. Your brain can’t modulate signals through your nervous system the way it normally would, typically affecting your extremities, the arms, legs, hands, and feet. 

Why this happens isn’t fully understood by doctors. CRPS usually begins after an injury or trauma, resulting in one of two types of the condition. 

Type 1 is sometimes called reflex sympathetic dystrophy and occurs after illness or injury, but not after events that cause nerve tissue damage. About 9 out of 10 CRPS patients have type 1. 

Type 2 produces symptoms similar to those of type 1, but it begins after nerve tissue is damaged or injured. Both type 1 and 2 injuries happen after trauma to an arm or leg, like a crush injury or bone fracture, and they can also arise from events like heart attacks, infections, or surgery. 

Symptoms include: 

• Non-stop pain, usually burning or throbbing pain, in the hands, feet, arms, or legs
• Swelling in areas of pain
• Skin changes, including color, temperature, or texture
• Sensitivity to cold or to touch
• Joint pain and stiffness, sometimes with swelling or damage to the joint
• Muscle weakness or spasms
• Loss of mobility in the affected body part.

Symptoms vary widely between patients, and your symptoms may change over time. 

5 encouraging facts about CPRS

Though it’s poorly understood, CPRS does respond to treatment. Consider these five encouraging facts about the condition: 

CRPS is not always permanent

CRPS can be a chronic condition, but it’s not always a life sentence. The severity of symptoms can reduce over time, and as previously mentioned, your active symptoms may change or even disappear. 

CRPS is a treatable condition

Your nervous system has plasticity, the ability to rewire itself and find ways around the problems created by CRPS. Therapies like graded motor imagery and mirror therapy help the process along. 

You can influence the progress of CRPS

Staying active and using physical therapy as a management tool can help your body relieve itself. Improved blood flow through physical activity can restore limb function and relieve pain. 

Early treatment makes a difference

The sooner you’re diagnosed, the sooner you can start treatment, and the better your body responds to CRPS. Behavioral therapy, medications, and physical therapy can limit the damage done by the condition. 

Kids and teens are likely to recover

Adolescents and children with CRPS have a better chance than adults of sending the condition into remission. Again, early diagnosis gives them an even better chance to reduce the impact of CRPS. 

Contact Florida Pain Management Institute if you suspect you or a child may have CRPS. It’s a better-safe-than-sorry step that could pay huge dividends. Call 561-331-5050 or click the link on this page to request an appointment today.