HISTORY OF RSD CRPS SYNDROME

RSD Syndrome

CRPS Syndrome

RSD syndrome (also referred to as CRPS syndrome) was originally described during the American Civil War by Weir Mitchell. He named the disorder causalgia. In 1872 Mitchell described RSD syndrome after seeing men suffering from severe pain long after their wounds had healed. His comments over 130 years ago capture the intense and persistent pain of CRPS syndrome.

PERHAPS FEW PERSONS who are not physicians can realize the influence which long-continued and unendurable pain my have upon both body and mind…Under such torments the temper changes, the most amiable grow irritable, the soldier becomes a coward, and the strongest man is scarcely less nervous than the most hysterical girl…Nothing can better illustrate the extent to which these statements may be true than the cases of burning pain, or, as I prefer to term it, causalgia, the most terrible of all the tortures which a nerve wound may inflict.

In the 1940’s the term reflex sympathetic dystrophy was used to describe this disorder based on the idea that the sympathetic nervous system was involved in sustaining the pain. Following the growing evidence that sympathetically maintained pain was not the only symptom need for a diagnosis of this disorder, a new terminology was introduced.

In the early 1990’s the International Association for the Study of Pain introduced a new term for the disorder naming it complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and dividing it into two parts, CRPS Type 1 and CRPS Type 2. CRPS Type 1 (reflex sympathetic disorder) is characterized by minor injuries to a limb or lesions in remote areas of the body that precede the symptoms. In CRPS Type 2 (causalgia) symptoms develop following injury to a major peripheral nerve.

Currently, CRPS syndrome is continuing to be researched in an attempt to better understand it’s cause and effective treatments. Recent studies indicate that CRPS is a neurological disorder involving the central nervous system along with the peripheral neurogenic inflammatory process.

A Fields Law RSD syndrome attorney understand reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome and will assist you in getting the medical help you need for your reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome along with records and supporting documentation you need to provide the SSA with evidence of your RSD disability. If you are unable to work because of RSD syndrome we can help you apply for social security benefits. If you have been denied disability benefits we can appeal your case.

We offer a Free case review. Our Minnesota CRPS syndrome attorneys understand how frustrating it is to suffer from the excruciating pain of complex regional pain syndrome and be denied disability benefits when you are prevented from working. There are never any fees unless we win your disability case.