Chronic Pain

Chronic Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a disabling condition manifested byhyperalgesia, allodynia, trophic changes, and vasomotor disturbances. It can be a challenging problem for physicians as there are a variety of treatment options.
Two classifications exist: CRPS 1, once termed reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD), and CRPS II, previously causalgia. The only delineating factor is that frank nerve injury is associated with CRPS II. A civil war surgeon, Silas Weir Mitchell, first described the term causalgia in 1872 with nerve-associated injuries.
The term has a Greek origin from words meaning pain and burning. Other terms once used to describe this disease state include sympathetically maintained pain and sympathetically independent pain. It was not until 1994 that the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) established criteria and terminology for CRPS.