Treatment

There's no known cure for complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS), but a combination of physical treatments, medication and psychological support can help manage the symptoms.

It's estimated that around 85% of people with CRPS slowly experience a substantialreduction in their pain andsome of their symptoms over the first two years after the condition starts.

However, some people experience continuous pain despite treatment. In rare cases, further problems may develop, such as muscle wastage in the affected limb.

There's currently no way to predict who will improve and when this may happen.

Your treatment plan

Treatment for CRPS involves four main areas:

  • education and self-managementadvice about any steps you can take to help managethe condition
  • physical rehabilitationto help improve your function and reduce the risk of long-term physical problems
  • pain relieftreatments to help reduce your pain
  • psychological supportinterventions to help you cope with the emotional impact of living with CRPS

Some of the main treatments used are described below.

Self-management

As part of your treatment, you will be advised about things you can do yourself to help control your condition.

This may include:

  • education to help you understand your condition
  • support to stay active and use the affected body part
  • learning techniques to help you manage increases in pain
  • learning relaxation methods to help improve your quality of life
  • advice regarding activity managementto help avoid peaks and dips in activity despite pain
  • continuing rehabilitation treatments at home, such as desensitisation techniques (see below)
  • accessing any support groups in your local area

If exercise or therapy is pushed too hard this can aggravate the condition so it's important for your therapyto be delivered or supported by a therapist with experience of CRPS.

Some of the techniques that may be used as part of your physical rehabilitation programme are described below.

Exercises

Your exercise plan may include a range of gentle exercises, from simple stretches to exercises in water (hydrotherapy) or weight-bearing exercises.

Desensitisation

Desensitisation is a technique used to reduce the sensitivity of body parts affected by CRPS.

It usually involves touching an unaffected body part, close to the affected body part, with materials of different textures, such as wool and silk, and concentrating on how this feels. The same materials are then gradually applied to the painful, affected body part while trying to recall what it felt like when you were touching the unaffected body part.

This process is likely to be uncomfortable or painful at first, but it may eventually reduce the sensitivity in the affected body part so it's more similar to unaffected areas.

Mirror visual feedback and graded motor imagery

Performing movement can often be difficult, as information which the brain needs to perform movements is often missing or confused.

Several techniques, such as mirror visual feedback and graded motor imagery, aim to improve movements by retraining the brain in respect to these missing or confused bits of information.

Pain relief

There are several medicines that may help to treat CRPS, which your pain specialist will be able to discuss with you.

Your treatment team will try lower-strength painkillers first, and will only use stronger painkillers if necessary.

None of the medicines used to treat people with CRPS are licensed for this use in the UK. This means these medicines may not have undergone clinical trials to see if they're effective and safe in treating CRPS specifically.

However, these medications will have a licence to treat another condition and will have undergone clinical trials for this. Doctors may choose to use an unlicensed medication if they're thought to be effective and the benefits of treatment outweigh any risks.

Some of the main pain relief treatments are discussed below.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

The first painkillersoften used to treat CRPS are over-the-counter painkillers callednon-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such asibuprofen.

These medications can help reduce the pain caused by the injury that triggered CRPS. They can also treat CRPS-associated pains, such as muscle pain in the shoulder when the CRPS is in the hand. However, NSAIDs are unlikely to directly reduce CRPS pain.

Anticonvulsants

Anticonvulsantsare usuallyused totreat epilepsy, but have also been found to be useful for treating nerve pain. Gabapentin and pregabalin are the most widely used anticonvulsants for treating CRPS.

Common side effects of these medications include drowsiness, dizzinessand weight gain. There's a small increased risk of suicidal thoughts, which may be seen as early as a week after starting treatment.

You should avoid suddenly stopping treatment with these medications, because you may experience withdrawal symptoms. If you feel you no longer need to take it, your GP will arrange for your dose to be slowly reduced over a period of at least a week.

Tricyclic antidepressants

Tricyclicantidepressants (TCAs) were originally designed to treat depression, but like anticonvulsantswere found to be effective in treating nerve pain.Amitriptyline and nortriptyline are the most widely used TCAs for treating CRPS, although nortriptyline generally has fewer side effects.

These medications can often improve sleep, and are generally taken in the early evening, to reduce the risk of "hangover" effects the next morning.

Possible side effects include:

  • dry mouth
  • blurred vision
  • constipation
  • heart palpitations
  • difficulty urinating

You may experience withdrawal effects if you stop taking these medications suddenly. If you feel you no longer need to take TCAs, your GP will arrange for your dose to be slowly reduced over a period of at least four weeks.

Opioids

If you're experiencing severe pain, opioids such as codeine and morphine can sometimes provide pain relief.

Common side effects of opiate painkillers include:

  • nausea and vomiting
  • constipation
  • dry mouth
  • tiredness
  • cognitive problems (thinking processes can be slower)

Long-term use of high doses has been linked to more serious problems, such as depression,absent periodsin women, anderectile dysfunction in men.

The benefits of using opioids may sometimes outweigh the risks, but unfortunately these medications are often not very effective in CRPS. Long-term use of high doses is generally not recommended, although exceptions may be made in a small number of cases under the care of a pain specialist.

Although addiction is rare, there's a risk you may becomedependenton opioids. Thismeans your body and mind don't want to stop taking them, even if they're not very effective. You may feel worse for a limited period of time when you do reduce or stop taking them.

Spinal cord stimulation

If medication doesn't lessen your pain, a treatment called spinal cord stimulation may be recommended.

This involves havinga device placed under the skin of your tummy or buttocks, attached to a lead placed close to your nerves in the spine.This device produces mild electrical pulses that are sent to your spinal cord.

These pulses changehow you feel pain. You may feel a tingling sensation in the part of your body that usually hurts, which masks the pain. The level of stimulation can be adjusted as your pain improves or gets worse, and the device can be removed if necessary.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states that spinal cord stimulationshould only be considered if:

  • you're still experiencing pain after six months of trying other treatments
  • you've had a successful trial of the stimulationthe trial only involves placing the leads, not implanting them

Your care team will discuss spinal cord stimulation with you if they think itcould help.

Psychological support

Living with a long-term, painful condition can be distressing, and people with CRPS may experiencepsychological problems, such as anxiety and depression.

It's important to look afteryour psychological wellbeing, because feelings of depression and anxiety can interfere with your rehabilitation.

Psychological therapies can also be useful in helping you cope better with the symptoms of pain. For example, some studies have shown that cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) can help in the management oflong-term pain.

These therapies are often taught to small groups of patients with severe pain, together with rehabilitation techniques, in programmes called "pain management programmes" (see below).

The aim of CBT is to help you understand how your problems, thoughts, feelings and behaviour can affect each other. By discussing and altering how you feel about your condition, CBT can help you cope with your symptoms and make it easier for you to continue with your rehabilitation programme.

Abdomen
The abdomen is the part of the body between the chest and the hips.
Inflammation
Inflammation is the body's response to infection, irritation or injury, which causes redness, swelling, pain and sometimes a feeling of heat in the affected area.
Joint
Joints are the connection point between two bones that allow movement.
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a column of nervous tissue located in the spinal column. It sends messages between the brain and the rest of the body.
Content supplied by the NHS Website

Medically Reviewed by a doctor on 28 Nov 2016