CRPS

What is CRPS?

CRPS (complex regional pain syndrome) is a chronic, incurable disease. It causes constant, intense pain that worsens over time.

No one knows for sure what causes CRPS. However, most research indicates that it's due to one of two possible causes. One is that there’s a defect in your sympathetic nervous system. The other is some type of immune system response following a traumatic injury.

Whatever its cause might be, CRPS gives rise to lasting physical pain and emotional suffering.

What are the symptoms of CRPS?

CRPS affects your hands, feet, arms, or legs. It typically causes symptoms in one hand or foot in the beginning, although the pain very often spreads over time. The pain itself is a continuous, burning feeling.

Another recognizable symptom is the change in color and temperature of your skin on the affected limb. The skin may also sweat, and the tissues swell.

How is CRPS treated?

Unfortunately, there's currently no cure for CRPS. However, the Pain Physicians NY team offers a range of effective treatments for your symptoms. 

It's vital to address the emotional symptoms of CRPS as well as the physical. The Pain Physicians NY team has considerable experience in recognizing and dealing with the mental distress of chronic pain conditions like CRPS can cause.

The intensity of CRPS symptoms varies a great deal between patients, so your provider creates a personalized treatment program specifically for your needs. 

All treatments are minimally invasive and offer you a way to cope with the day to day pain and other symptoms caused by CRPS. Treatments that might be included in your plan are:

• Physical therapy
• Topical analgesics
• Corticosteroids
• Lumbar sympathetic block
• Stellate ganglion block

If these treatments aren't providing sufficient relief of your symptoms, you might be a candidate for spinal cord stimulation.

What is spinal cord stimulation?

Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) involves having an implant under your skin that you control with a remote device. The spinal cord stimulator implant sends electrical impulses to the nerves relaying pain messages to your brain.

The impulses interfere with nerve function, effectively blocking the pain signals. You can adjust the strength and speed of the electrical impulses according to the intensity of your pain at any time. 

Before implanting a permanent spinal cord stimulator, the Pain Physicians NY team fits you with a trial stimulator to make sure the device is going to help ease your pain.

If you have CRPS, talk to the team about the variety of treatment options at Pain Physicians NY. Call the office today to find out more or book an appointment online.