International Journal of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation
Open Access

The role of peripheral nerve injections in the diagnosis and treatment of CRPS

3^rd International Conference and Exhibition on Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation

May 18-20, 2015 San Antonio, USA

Andrea Trescot

Posters-Accepted Abstracts: Int J Phys Med Rehabil

Abstract :

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) has been a very difficult pain syndrome to diagnose and treat, primarily because the criteria are clinical, and the treatments primarily symptomatic. Most of the research on CRPS has focused on the central sensitization, but there has been a recent recognition of the peripheral disease mechanisms that may trigger and maintain CRPS. The onset of CRPS is usually triggered by an injury (which may have been �??trivial�?�) with resultant pain, sensory dysfunction, edema, and trophic changes that can spread to other areas of the body. Classically, CRPS has been divided into Type I (without a nerve lesion) and Type II (with a documented nerve injury), and has been regarded as primarily a disorder of the central nervous system mediated by sympathetic dysfunction. Type I is much more common, and may reflect an unrecognized small peripheral nerve entrapment. The lack of diagnosis and therefore treatment of an underlying pathology (peripheral nerve entrapment) may have contributed to the lack of consistent response to a wide variety of treatments. This lecture will focus on the potential mechanism of injury (peripheral nerve entrapment), leading to the initiation and perpetuation of CRPS. Several clinical scenarios will be presented, illustrating these mechanisms, describing the diagnostic injections as well as the cryoanalgesia techniques for treatment.