neurologic disorders
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)
Introduction
Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is chronic neuropathic pain that follows soft-tissue or bone injury (type I) or nerve injury (type II) and lasts longer and is more severe than expected for the original tissue damage. Other manifestations include autonomic changes (eg, sweating, vasomotor abnormalities), motor changes (eg, weakness, dystonia), and trophic changes (eg, skin or bone atrophy, hair loss, joint contractures). Diagnosis is clinical. Treatment includes drugs, physical therapy, and sympathetic blockade. (See also Overview of Pain .) CRPS type I was previously known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy (see alsoComplex Regional Pain Syndrome: Treatment Guidelines), and type II was known as causalgia. Both types occur most often in young adults and are 2 or 3 times more common among women. 