RSD/CRPS and massage?

[Pompal 09.]

Hello all, I received a call from someone today who has CRPS. I have never heard of it, and have done a little research since getting her message about an hour ago.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

 

[HOSS]

first of all hi!! im new in the forum but i must tell this is a very good forum about bodywork.

i never heard about CRPS before i saw your post but i did a little research and i found this hope this helps a little bit

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (Chronic Neuropathic (sometimes called Neurogenic) Pain, RSD, Causalgia, is characterised by a collection of symptoms and there is evidence that shows that these types of symptoms were
being observed in patients by Doctors over 150 years ago. So it isn't new - it's just that these symptoms have been given lots of different names (Sudeks Atrophy, Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, Causalgia, Chronic Traumatic Oedema, Shoulder Hand Syndrome, Steinbroker Syndrome, Sympathalgia, Sympathetic Overdrive Syndrome - and more!).

In 1992 an International Team of Doctors introduced a new name that was an attempt to try encompass and simplify the naming of Chronic Neuropathic Pain disorders. They called this 'Complex Regional Pain Syndrome' (CRPS) - and gave it two parts:

CRPS Type 1 and CRPS Type 2.
CRPS Type 1 - (Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy).
Is caused by - a simple injury, football, athletics, falling over - perhaps a fracture, perhaps a minor operation. A nerve or tissue gets injured - and the resulting pain is totally disproportionate to the injury (a severe intense 'Burning' pain that is not relieved by strong pain killers). The pain may go on for months, even years long after the initial injury has healed. The pain is often much worse at night - and not just because of tiredness. The symptoms that can occur are:

Intense burning pain - this may radiate to previously unaffected areas. Numbness, sensation disturbances on the skin - this may also radiate to previously unaffected areas.
Loss of control of the affected limb or another previously unaffected limb -
weakness, numbness.
An occasional cold or cool affected limb.
Swelling of the affected limb.
Headaches.
Nausea.
Insomnia.
Lethargy.
Abnormal Sweating.
Changes in skin texture.
Recurrent infections.
Depression.

CRPS TYPE 2 - (Causalgia). Is caused by a nerve or tissue injury that is affected by a known ongoing abnormality (a lesion, a tumour, an AVM) - the cause of the damage does not heal or go away. The symptoms are the same as
in Type 1 (RSD).

Who gets CRPS - anyone, any age, any sex, any race. What's is happening? - Ah - this is the problem - even the Medical profession is unsure as to exactly what occurs. What is currently believed is that the injured nerve starts behaving very erratically and begins to effect other totally healthy nerves. There is a condition known as 'Sympathetically Mediated Pain' - this means simply that healthy parts of the body's nervous system (the Autonomic Sympathetic Nervous System) are being abnormally activated and this actually make things worse! There are also other more complicated and alternative suggestions as to what is going on - so it is clear that, at least for the moment, we cannot be certain as to what is actually happening. However there is a lot of research going on and we must be hopeful that in the future it will be understood more.

The key difficulties at the moment are that the diagnosis is based almost entirely on the presenting symptoms alone - there is no definitive blood test, X-Ray or scan that can confirm CRPS. Indeed many traditional tests such as 'Nerve Conduction' will reveal no abnormalities as it is the microscopic nerves that are deranged - not the major nerves.
It has to be said that Doctors around the world are not in total agreement on what CRPS is, and many are not aware of it. Thus CRPS can be missed or overlooked. Alternatively - as indicated above - there are many names for it
despite attempts to bring under the term CRPS - Doctors may use other terms to describe or diagnose the syndrome - our son Sam has only ever had a formal diagnosis of "Chronic Pain Syndrome" although he has presented with
every major aspect of CRPS.


sorry about my english but im just learning it

ps: this also helped me to know what CRPS MEANS

 

[Unpretty]

RSD/CRPS and Massage

Thanks to iAcobus for the excellent background on this awful syndrome. I just found an article in Massage Today by Ruth Werner, March 2003. It states that RSD first showed up during the Civil War as soldiers were healing from gunshot wounds. I wonder if it had to do with the doctor sawing off the limb near the wound (':shock:')
I have one client who has it in her cervical spine and after a fusion is very miserable. She has constant pain in her neck, head and left arm. She can only tolerate very light pressure and loves heat. She seems to benefit from multiple visits per week and has found that any stretching or exercise flares her up. She is treating by injection therapy several times per year and is lucky to be wealthy enough to pay for what she needs.
I also had someone who was a chair massage client who had a knee reconstruction and got RSD after the surgery. Her neurologist was able to treat it with medication after PT didn't work.
While I have not treated many patients with this problem, it seems to manifest after an injury like an ankle sprain or crush injury and the pain just keeps increasing.
If you client does well with the massage, great. Keep checking in with her afterwards to see if there was any decrease in pain. Also is this person seeing a neurologist or pain specialist? You may want to talk to their doc and see what's working.
Just remember that this client's nervous system is on overload and can crank up with very little stimulus.
Good luck,
Rubmyster