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Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. Related Articles. What Is Congenital Muscular Dystrophy? How Hyperhidrosis Is Diagnosed. Hemiplegia and Hemiparalysis.
Types of Neuromuscular Disorders. Muscular Dystrophy vs. Muscle Atrophy. What to Know About Kyphosis vs. What Causes Upper Abdominal Pain? Certain interventions and medications may help relieve and treat symptoms. You may also seek physical therapy and psychotherapy to reduce the effects of RSD.
You may find that your condition improves dramatically with treatment, but some people have to learn how to manage their symptoms. A variety of medications are available for RSD, ranging from over-the-counter pain relievers and topical creams to prescription drugs from your doctor. These medications include:. Physical therapy may help you rehabilitate the affected limb. This type of therapy will ensure that you continue to move the limb to retain its abilities. It also improves your blood flow and reduces symptoms related to circulation problems.
Regular physical therapy may be needed to reduce symptoms. Seeing a health professional for psychotherapy may also be necessary with RSD. You may develop a psychological condition from the chronic pain associated with the condition. Psychotherapy will help you manage your mental health.
You may also find that complementary alternative therapies like acupuncture or relaxation methods work for treating your RSD. While some research discusses the prevention of RSD for specific cases, there is no conclusive evidence that a person can avoid RSD completely.
Read more: What to expect when recovering from a stroke ». RSD can result in a variety of outcomes. You may find that early intervention and treatment minimizes your symptoms and allows you to return to life as usual.
On the other hand, your symptoms may get worse and may not be diagnosed in a timely fashion. Quadriparesis refers to weakness in all four limbs. Similar at-home use of small transcranial direct electrical stimulators is also being investigated. These stimulation methods have the advantage of being non-invasive; however, repeated treatment sessions are needed to maintain benefit, so they require time. Spinal-fluid drug pumps. These implanted devices deliver pain-relieving medications directly into the fluid that bathes the nerve roots and spinal cord.
Typically, these are mixtures of opioids, local anesthetic agents, clonidine, and baclofen. The advantage is that very low doses can be used that do not spread beyond the spinal canal to affect other body system.
This decreases side effects and increases drug effectiveness. Alternative and holistic therapies. Based on studies from other painful conditions, some individuals are investigating accessible treatments such as medical marijuana, behavior modification, acupuncture, relaxation techniques such as biofeedback, progressive muscle relaxation, and guided motion therapy , and chiropractic treatment. These do not benefit the primary cause of CRPS, but some people find them useful.
They are generally accessible and not dangerous to try. Limited use therapy for the most severe or non-resolving pain that has not responded to conventional treatment , such as ketamine. Some investigators report benefit from low doses of ketamine—a strong anesthetic—given intravenously for several days. In certain clinical settings, ketamine has been shown to be useful in treating pain that does not respond well to other treatments. However, it can cause delusions and other symptoms of psychosis with long-lasting impact.
Sympathetic nerve block. Previously, sympathetic blocks—in which an anesthetic is injected next to the spine to directly block the activity of sympathetic nerves and improve blood flow—were used.
More recent studies demonstrate no long-lasting benefit after the injected anesthetic wears off and there is the risk of injury from needle injections, so this approach has fallen from favor. Surgical sympathectomy. This destroys some of the nerves that carry pain signals. Use is controversial; some experts think it is unwarranted and makes CRPS worse, while others report occasional favorable outcome. Sympathectomy should be used only in individuals whose pain is temporarily dramatically relieved by sympathetic nerve blocks.
Cutting injured nerves or nerve roots. People with CRPS often ask if cutting the damaged nerve above the site of injury would end the pain. In fact, this causes a larger nerve lesion that will affect a larger area of the limb. Also, the spinal cord and brain react badly to being deprived of stimulation which can result in central pain syndromes. Other than in exceptional circumstances such as palliative care, this should not be performed.
However, it can progress to a chronic pain condition in others. Currently, there are no set guidelines for the treatment and management of CRPS 1. However, a team of doctors, physiotherapists, and occupational therapists can work together to design a treatment plan for each individual. A doctor may recommend treating CRPS 1 with one or more drugs. Some of these drugs may include:. Other treatments include:.
A report on CRPS 1 treatment concludes that there is insufficient evidence to support the use of one treatment over another. Further high-quality research is necessary to identify the most effective treatments for pain and disability among people with CRPS 1. Doctors suggest that multiple factors may contribute to the development of CRPS 1. These include:. The causes of these issues may relate to genetics, inflammation , psychological factors, or a combination.
In some situations, CRPS may improve gradually over time. However, some people with the condition go on to experience chronic pain. As the report highlights, further high-quality studies are needed to develop clear treatment guidelines for this syndrome. However, since the incidence of CRPS is low, researchers have difficulty finding suitable study participants. Anyone who experiences chronic pain should talk to their healthcare provider about treatment options.
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