Everything You Should Know About Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) in 2022

While our bodies are magical when healing common injuries, sometimes prolonged pain and inflammation can occur. Neurologic symptoms can make your everyday life more challenging. One of the most common syndromes that follow injuries is complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). 

Knowing exactly what it is, what symptoms it involves, and the treatment options can help give you the confidence you need to get your CRPS under control. Here is everything you need to know about CRPS.

What is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

Complex regional pain syndrome, or CRPS, refers to a wide range of neurological symptoms. The onset of these symptoms usually comes after a leg or arm injury. CRPS results from the improper function of nerves in charge of carrying pain messages to your brain. More specifically, peripheral C-fiber nerves are to blame for the onset of CRPS symptoms.

Under normal conditions, C-fiber nerves would carry the pain messages to your brain if you get hurt. The injury makes them fire excessively to provide you with the feeling of inflammation in the hurt area so that you can rest and facilitate healing. However, if the nerves get injured, they can continue to fire excessively even when your injury has completely healed, causing you to feel pain and discomfort. 

While most people with CRPS commonly experience pain, this is not the only symptom that can indicate a CRPS. Let’s go over the common symptoms of CRPS.

The symptoms of CRPS

CRPS is referred to as a syndrome because it often comes with an onset of various symptoms that only the best CRPS treatment centers, such as the Spero Clinic, can successfully diagnose and treat adequately.  Knowing the signs can help you seek help from a relevant medical practitioner. Here are the CRPS symptoms:

  • Pain – a pain that spontaneously occurs without any provocation. The pain level can be different when performing different activities, or it can be constant;
  • Skin texture – sometimes, skin on the leg or arm can change its texture. It occurs because the skin doesn’t receive enough oxygen and nutrients;
  • Stiff joint – if the CRPS follows a joint injury, you can experience some stiffness in your joint. The ligaments and tendons become less flexible and can sometimes be the cause of CRPS itself;
  • Increased sensitivity in the affected area – the area affected by the CRPS can become very sensitive. Sometimes even a light touch can cause excessive pain;
  • Reduced movement ability – since CRPS often follows a limb injury, you can experience some trouble moving. Due to inflammation and bad circulation, the muscles don’t receive enough nutrients and oxygen. You can experience difficulty moving the affected limb.

The types and phases of CRPS

There are two types and phases of CRPS based on the extent of tissue and nerve damage and the onset of different symptoms. 

CRPS type I doesn’t include any nerve damage. It is the most common type of CRPS, and the treatment promises excellent results in a short time. CRPS type II, on the other hand, refers to CRPS that includes nerve damage. 

The development of CRPS and the onset of symptoms can go through three stages. However, you should know that it’s not a rule. You can immediately experience stage 3 or never progress past stage 1 or 2. 

In stage 1, CRPS often includes burning pain at the injury. People can experience anything from impaired movement and paid nail and hair growth to joint stiffness and swelling. Stage 1 can last for up to a couple of weeks. At one point, the symptoms can disappear completely, or you can progress to Stage 2.

Stage 2 includes even more pain and inflammation. Swelling can spread to other areas, and the surrounding muscles may atrophy. The affected limb becomes harder to control, significantly disrupting your lifestyle.

Stage 3 is even more painful than Stage 2, and CRPS can affect the entire limb. CRPS symptoms can spread to other areas.

The CRPS treatment options

There are numerous ways to treat CRPS, and they all show promising results, even for people in Stage 3 of CRPS. Most commonly, the CRPS treatment includes:

  • Medications – medications are very useful in Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the illness. For instance, steroidal and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs;
  • Physical therapy – physical therapy and rehabilitation can help improve the blood flow in the affected limb and alleviate the symptoms;
  • Psychotherapy – can help people learn how to manage stress better, feel better, and work on depression and anxiety associated with their CRPS;
  • Holistic approach –  some clinics often offer personalized and holistic treatment, focusing on identifying the root cause of the CRPS and curing the illness instead of treating the symptoms.

Conclusion

CRPS is one of the most unpleasant illnesses to live with and go through. It affects almost 200,000 patients every year in the US alone. The good news is that there are many different CRPS treatments and that you can prevent it from progressing from stage 1 and stage 2.