What Is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)?

There are some victims who seem to never lose the pain. The area of the injury has persistent and ongoing pain that doesn’t cease regardless of different treatments. This is known as Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). Though not full understood by the medical community, this is a very real condition whose consequences can be life changing.

CRPS is best characterized as soft tissue and nerve damage that, for some reason, does not heal correctly or totally. Depending on the nerve and tissue effected, the severity and results of the CRPS changes for each patient.

How Do I Know If I Have CRPS?

If you have it, there’s no doubt, you’ll know. After a auto accident or work related injury, this condition usually manifests itself in an extremity, however, not in all cases. And regardless of where the victim is effected, muscles or joints, the pain is consistent and persistent, and in some cases unbearable.

According to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), “The key symptom of CRPS is continuous, intense pain out of proportion to the severity of the injury, which gets worse rather than better over time.”

Some of the symptoms are:

• Excessive sweating
• Extreme sensitivity to touch
• Pathological changes in bone and skin
• Severe burning pain
• Tissue swelling

Please keep in mind that currently there is no cure for CRPS, which means that the ailment is still highly misunderstood and treatment is all over the board. Medical researchers and others in the medical community have tried a variety different treatment methods including pharmaceuticals, holistic treatments such as acupuncture, and even medical marijuana, however, consensus has not arrived at a single treatment.

What the medical community has come to consensus on is that there are two types of CRPS and they come in stages.

Stages of CRPS

According to the Center for Advanced Orthopedics and Pain Management, there are usually three stages associated with the syndrome. Each stage is marked by progressive changes in the skin, nails, muscles, joints, ligaments and bones.

Stage 1 – This generally lasts from 1 to 3 months and is represented by severe pain at the site of the injury. Stage one is characterized by:

• Muscle spasm
• Joint stiffness
• Restricted mobility
• Rapid hair and nail growth
• Vasospasm or changes in color and temperature of the skin

Stage 2 – This typically lasts from 3 to 6 months. In stage two, the pain intensifies and can begin to effect the patient’s quality of life. Stage two is characterized by:

• Swelling increases
• Hair growth diminishes
• Nails become cracked, brittle, grooved, and spotty
• Osteoporosis becomes severe and diffuse
• Joints thicken
• Muscles atrophy

Stage 3 – As stage three approaches, changes in the skin and bones become irreversible. Pain becomes persistent and may spread to the entire limb. Occasionally the limb is crooked or twisted and bone softening is more dispersed. Stage three is characterized by:

• Marked muscle atrophy
• Severely limited mobility of the affected area
• Contractions of the muscles and tendons that flex the joints

Types of CRPS

As stated above, there is now cure for CRPS and treatment is still in its discovery phase, but the medical community has concluded that there are two types of CRPS. These are different from the stages.

Type I – Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD)

• Type one is the injury event itself where the healing process does not involve characteristic relief in pain.
• Increase in pain.
• Allodynia, a condition in which pain results from a non-injurious stimulus to the skin.
• Hyperalgesia where the pain is disproportionate to any inciting event.
• Changes in skin blood flow, color changes, and temperature changes more than 1.1°C difference from the homologous body part.
• This diagnosis is excluded by the existence of conditions that would otherwise account for the degree of pain and dysfunction.

Type II – Causalgia

• Allodynia, or hyperalgesia not necessarily limited to the distribution of the injured nerve.
• Limited movement in the limb regardless of pain.
• Changes in bone or blood flow that effects the position of the extremity.

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Washington Personal Injury Attorney

CRPS is a serious problem that can have very real consequences on a victim of personal injury. Not only does it increase the severity of the injury, it may require further legal action in order beyond the initial personal injury lawsuit in order to address the increased expense and ingoing need for treatment. It also may require further compensation for increased pain and suffering and quality of life.

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