Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS/RSD) Treatment in Tucson
Living with pain that no one else can see is lonely. When a hand, arm, foot, or leg keeps burning long after a fracture, a sprain, or a surgery should have healed, life starts to shrink around the pain. Sleep gets harder. Work gets harder. Explaining it, again and again, gets hardest of all.
There is a name for what you may be going through: complex regional pain syndrome. CRPS is a real, recognized medical condition. It is treatable, and treatment works best when it starts early. You have carried this far enough on your own.
At Quality of Life Integrated Medical Center in Tucson, our board-certified pain management physician treats CRPS as part of the full range of chronic pain conditions we care for, with behavioral health and primary care in the same clinic. You get coordinated care in one place, from people who take your pain seriously.
What Is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome?
Complex regional pain syndrome is a form of chronic pain that usually affects one arm, leg, hand, or foot, most often after an injury or surgery. The nervous system’s response to the injury goes too far and keeps going, so the pain becomes larger and lasts longer than the original damage explains.
CRPS comes in two types. Type 1, once called reflex sympathetic dystrophy or RSD, develops without a confirmed nerve injury, and about 9 in 10 cases are this type. Type 2, once called causalgia, follows a distinct, identifiable nerve injury. The symptoms look similar, and both types are treated in similar ways.
CRPS is uncommon, with estimates suggesting roughly 200,000 people in the United States live with it, and it is frequently misunderstood. If anyone has ever suggested the pain is in your head, you are not alone, and you are not imagining it.
CRPS Symptoms
Symptoms vary from person to person and can change over time. Common signs include:
- Continuous burning or throbbing pain in an arm, leg, hand, or foot
- Skin so sensitive that light touch, cold air, or clothing hurts
- Swelling in the painful area
- Skin temperature that swings between warm and cold
- Skin color changes, from white and blotchy to red or blue
- Skin that becomes thin, shiny, or tender
- Changes in hair and nail growth on the affected limb
- Stiff, swollen joints
- Muscle spasms, tremors, or weakness
- Trouble moving the affected body part
Pain, swelling, redness, temperature changes, and extreme sensitivity usually show up first. Occasionally, symptoms spread beyond the original area, sometimes to the opposite limb, which is one more reason early care matters.
By Timsong311 - the picture was taken with the patient's permission, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25880664
What Causes CRPS?
Most cases follow a physical trauma: a fracture, especially of the wrist, a crush injury, a sprain, a surgery, or a limb held still in a cast. Less often, CRPS follows an infection, a stroke, or a heart attack. Researchers believe the condition comes from an unusual interaction between the central and peripheral nervous systems, along with an inflammatory response that never fully settles.
Most people who have these injuries never develop CRPS, and doctors cannot yet predict who will. What is certain: nothing you did caused it, and nothing about it means you are weak.
Can CRPS Be Prevented?
Not always, but two simple steps have evidence behind them. Studies have shown that people who take a high dose of vitamin C after a wrist fracture may lower their risk of developing CRPS. And some research suggests that getting up and moving soon after a stroke or injury, called early mobilization, reduces the risk as well. If you have just had a fracture or surgery, ask your doctor whether these steps make sense for you.
Why Early Treatment Matters
CRPS responds best when treatment starts early. In early cases, real improvement and even remission are possible. When treatment is delayed, the affected limb can change in ways that are harder to reverse: muscles and tissue weaken from disuse, and tightening can pull fingers or toes toward a fixed position.
The practical takeaway is simple. If your pain seems out of proportion to your injury, or it lingers well past normal healing, get evaluated now rather than waiting to see if it fades.
How CRPS Is Diagnosed
No single test proves CRPS. Diagnosis rests on your history and a careful physical exam measured against the established diagnostic standard, known as the Budapest criteria. Tests such as X-rays, bone scans, MRI, or nerve studies are used mostly to rule out other causes of your pain.
Bring your full story to the visit: how the pain started, how it has changed, and how touch, cold, and movement affect it. Being believed is the first part of good care, and it is where we start.
How We Treat CRPS in Tucson
There is no single fix for CRPS, so our Tucson pain management team builds a plan around you, usually combining several approaches at once.
Medication management. Nerve pain medications, anti-inflammatory medicines, non-opioid pain relievers, and other targeted options, prescribed carefully at the lowest effective dose and reassessed as you improve. If opioid therapy ever becomes part of the conversation, our physician’s dual certification in pain medicine and addiction medicine means your safety is built into the plan from the start.
Movement as medicine. Keeping the limb gently in use protects your strength and mobility, so we coordinate with physical and occupational therapists on graded movement and desensitization work that respects where your pain is today.
Interventional options. For pain that does not respond to conservative care, procedures such as sympathetic nerve blocks may calm the overactive pain signaling, and for persistent cases, your physician can discuss options such as spinal cord stimulation. Interventional procedures are performed on-site.
Whole-person support. Chronic pain drags anxiety, low mood, and lost sleep along with it, and treating those is part of treating CRPS. Our in-house behavioral health team offers counseling and coping strategies, and because everything lives in one clinic, your providers coordinate without referrals bouncing between offices.
Why Tucson Patients Choose Us for CRPS
- A physician board certified in pain medicine and anesthesiology
- Dual certification in addiction medicine, rare among Tucson pain clinics
- Behavioral health and primary care under one roof
- Same-week availability for most new patient appointments
- Broad insurance acceptance, including Medicare
Interested in Clinical Research?
Quality of Life Research Center conducts clinical research in several areas, including chronic pain, diabetes, obesity, dermatology, and other conditions. Visit our research center to see what studies are currently enrolling.
Common Questions About CRPS
Does CRPS ever go away?
Sometimes. Some cases ease or go into remission, especially when treatment starts early. Others persist and are managed over time. Early care meaningfully improves the odds.
Is CRPS a real diagnosis?
Yes. CRPS is a recognized medical condition with established diagnostic criteria. Pain out of proportion to the injury is the hallmark of the condition, not an exaggeration.
What does CRPS feel like?
Most people describe constant burning or throbbing in one limb, with skin so sensitive that light touch, cold air, or even clothing can hurt. Swelling, color changes, and temperature swings in the limb are common alongside the pain.
Can CRPS spread?
Occasionally, symptoms move beyond the original area, sometimes to the opposite limb. It is not common, but it is one more reason to treat CRPS early.
How soon should I see a doctor?
Now, if your pain seems bigger than your injury or has lasted past normal healing time. The earlier CRPS is treated, the better it responds, so waiting works against you.
Get Relief, Starting This Week
You do not have to keep pushing through this on your own. We are accepting new patients, and most first appointments are available within the week.
Sources
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Fact Sheet, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).
- Harden RN, et al., Complex Regional Pain Syndrome: Practical Diagnostic and Treatment Guidelines, 4th Edition, Pain Medicine.
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome overview, Mayo Clinic.