09/02/2025
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome or CRPS was formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy or RSD. It is considered to be a multi-system syndrome or condition that is mainly characterised by pain that lasts for a long time after the normal length of time for healing.
CRPS usually begins in one area of the body, but it can affect any part of the body. Although, CRPS will usually begin in one particular area of the body, it can then spread away from the initially damaged area, even if it remains in one limb.
In the United Kingdom, the main guidelines that are used and followed are the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Guidelines for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome in adults. These RCP Guidelines for CRPS were updated in July 2018 (2nd Edition).
According to the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Guidelines for CRPS (2018), Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is:
⢠A debilitating painful chronic condition in a limb or extremity.
⢠It is associated with sensory, motor, autonomic, skin and bone abnormalities.
⢠Pain is the leading symptom and is usually out of proportion to the original or inciting event.
⢠It is often associated with limb dysfunction
⢠It causes psychological distress ā CRPS is not caused by psychological issues or mental health problems.
CRPS used to be thought of as a condition that developed from a psychological disorder. However subsequent research has shown that this is untrue. CRPS is not a psychological disorder. However complex regional pain syndrome does subsequently cause mental health issues.
It often arises after an injury to a limb
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, formerly known as Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, was first described in the mid-16th Century. However it was then later more commonly known in the descriptions during the American Civil War by Silas Weir Mitchell.
SOURCE: https://www.burningnightscrps.org/crps/crps-information/what-is-crps/