ABOUT RSD/CRPS

What is RSD/CRPS?

RSD/CRPS stands for Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy/Complex Regional Pain Syndrome.  As the second name suggests, it is a chronic pain condition that many people describe as a burning pain.  It is thought to be an orphan disease, meaning that less than 200,000 people in the United States are affected.  I am not a medical doctor, so I am not going to explain the current biological theory about RSD/CRPS.  Instead, please see RSDSA.org, the main, national nonprofit foundation for RSD/CRPS.  

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It was first described by Dr. Silas Weir Mitchell in 1864.  He had observed veterans who were experiencing extreme, long-term pain; he eventually named it causalgia.  He is also the doctor who first described phantom limb pain.  Since his first description, RSD has had over 20 names, with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome starting in 1995.  

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