CRPS

Please your opinions.
I have old women with CRPS.
Fractura radii loco typico but before 6 months. Has never been treated before.
I dont know, can I use cryo therapy there?? What else to relieve??
Thank in advance

Do a search in the TAGS section for CRPS to view some existing threads on this topic

I have just been told I have CRPS after a tib and fib fracture (which happened 14 months ago) - my bone was repaired using an external fixator which worked well, however my ankle joint is completely unmoveable/ no dorsi flexion whatsoever - is this normal after this type of fracture, I am being treated with Guanithidine blocks for the CRPS which kills the pain, but the lack of movement is so frustrating after such a long time. Is there anything else out there that I can try to treat this, I am attending both Physio and Hydrotherapy which are helping to build up muscle but don't seem to make any difference to the lack of movement ....any ideas on what I can try next

Have you tried mirror therapy at all? Theres early work being done (thats pretty similar to whats been done the phantom limb pain), where patients move their unaffected limb whilst watching its reflection in the mirror. It thought that the reflection can compensate for the altered sensory feedback being received from the affected limb

Whilst using the mirror the patient will do specific exercises (eg wrist flex/ext) with the unaffected limb and with the affected limb as able. A colleague of mine found a drastic effect in her patients ROM when this started.

Initially the response was only during the mirror therapy but the patient was advised to continue with it at home and the length of the improvement progressively increased.

However, the stuff Ive read so far does report that this works best with early and intermediate CRPS (<1 year). The results werent great with patients with chronic CRPS unfortunately.

Have a look at some of these systematic reviews. I think there is a bit of evidence out there for graded motor imagery.

PEDro - Search Results

The trouble is patients are usually getting a package of medical/psychological and physical treatments so the research is not very developed in working out what works best.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic progressive disease characterized by severe pain, swelling and changes in the skin. CRPS most likely does not have a single cause but rather results from multiple causes that produce similar symptoms. Some theories suggest that pain receptors in the affected part of the body become responsive to catecholamines.