scholarly journals Somatic and Abdominal Acupuncture for Pain Treatment in Adolescent Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) of the Upper Limb: A Case Report

Children ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 1187
Author(s):  
Giuliano Marchetti ◽  
Alessandro Vittori ◽  
Ilaria Mascilini ◽  
Elisa Francia ◽  
Antonella Insalaco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Conservative Therapy ◽  
Pain Treatment ◽  
Pain Syndrome ◽  
Initial Stimulus ◽  
Left Wrist ◽  
Abdominal Acupuncture ◽  
Potential Alternative ◽  
Pediatric Populations

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is still poorly understood. It is a pain disorder in which pain is disproportionate to the initial stimulus. There is no specific therapy for CRPS, but it can be managed by a combination of treatments. We report a 13-year-old girl with CRPS of the upper limb treated with somatic and abdominal acupuncture. She described a severe, pulsating pain in the left wrist and hand, with hypersensitivity, allodynia, a marked reduction in strength, and swelling and sweating at the level of the fingers. Pain began three months previously, after a trauma to the left wrist. The diagnostic tests performed were negative. At the first visit we recommended oral tramadol. During the first two sessions we used somatic acupuncture. At the third session, the girl reported suffering intolerable pain in the affected limb during the previous sessions, so we decided to use abdominal acupuncture. After 8 sessions of abdominal acupuncture the pain completely disappeared. Acupuncture could be a potential alternative when conservative therapy with physical and medical treatment fails, but more often parents and adolescents prefer this therapy since other comorbidities are often present in pediatric populations and abdominal acupuncture could be a valuable alternative aid.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome—Upper Limb

2014 ◽  
pp. 115-115
Author(s):  
Jeremy Simon ◽  
Michael Mehnert ◽  
Matthew McAuliffe
Keyword(s):  
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Pain Syndrome

Comparison of muscle and joint pressure-pain thresholds in patients with complex regional pain syndrome and upper limb pain of other origin

Pain ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 155 (3) ◽  
pp. 591-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tina Mainka ◽  
Florian S. Bischoff ◽  
Ralf Baron ◽  
Elena K. Krumova ◽  
Volkmar Nicolas ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Pain Syndrome ◽  
Limb Pain ◽  
Pain Thresholds ◽  
Pressure Pain ◽  
Pressure Pain Thresholds ◽  
Upper Limb Pain

scholarly journals Where is my arm? Investigating the link between complex regional pain syndrome and poor localisation of the affected limb

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11882
Author(s):  
Valeria Bellan ◽  
Felicity A. Braithwaite ◽  
Erica M. Wilkinson ◽  
Tasha R. Stanton ◽  
G. Lorimer Moseley
Keyword(s):  
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Pain Syndrome ◽  
Persistent Pain ◽  
Implicit Processes ◽  
Hand Pain ◽  
Control Samples

Background Anecdotally, people living with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) often report difficulties in localising their own affected limb when it is out of view. Experimental attempts to investigate this report have used explicit tasks and yielded varied results. Methods Here we used a limb localisation task that interrogates implicit mechanisms because we first induce a compelling illusion called the Disappearing Hand Trick (DHT). In the DHT, participants judge their hands to be close together when, in fact, they are far apart. Sixteen volunteers with unilateral upper limb CRPS (mean age 39 ± 12 years, four males), 15 volunteers with non-CRPS persistent hand pain (‘pain controls’; mean age 58 ± 13 years, two males) and 29 pain-free volunteers (‘pain-free controls’; mean age 36 ± 19 years, 10 males) performed a hand-localisation task after each of three conditions: the DHT illusion and two control conditions in which no illusion was performed. The conditions were repeated twice (one for each hand). We hypothesised that (1) participants with CRPS would perform worse at hand self-localisation than both the control samples; (2) participants with non-CRPS persistent hand pain would perform worse than pain-free controls; (3) participants in both persistent pain groups would perform worse with their affected hand than with their unaffected hand. Results Our first two hypotheses were not supported. Our third hypothesis was supported —when visually and proprioceptively encoded positions of the hands were incongruent (i.e. after the DHT), relocalisation performance was worse with the affected hand than it was with the unaffected hand. The similar results in hand localisation in the control and pain groups might suggest that, when implicit processes are required, people with CRPS’ ability to localise their limb is preserved.

scholarly journals Peripheral Nerve Stimulation of the Brachial Plexus for Chronic Refractory CRPS Pain of the Upper Limb: Description of a New Technique and Case Series

Pain Medicine ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. S18-S26
Author(s):  
Thiago Nouer Frederico ◽  
Tiago da Silva Freitas
Keyword(s):  
Neuropathic Pain ◽  
Conservative Treatment ◽  
Brachial Plexus ◽  
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ◽  
Upper Limb ◽  
Case Series ◽  
Pain Syndrome ◽  
Pain Scale ◽  
New Technique ◽  
A New Technique

Abstract Objective Upper limb complex regional pain syndrome is an important cause of chronic pain, and its treatment is challenging. In this pilot case series, we preliminarily evaluated the feasibility, effectiveness, and safety of a new technique for brachial plexus neuromodulation in the treatment of this disease in patients refractory to conservative treatment. Methods Between 2017 and 2018, 14 patients considered to be refractory to optimized conservative treatment were recruited to this study. In the first stage, patients were trialed for seven days with a new technique of implant of the brachial plexus. Patients with ≥50% pain relief in visual analog scale (VAS) score received a definitive implantation in the second stage. Follow-ups were conducted at pre-implant and 12 months using the Neuropathic Pain Scale, SF-32, and the visual analogic scale for pain. Results After the initial trial, 10 patients had a pain reduction of ≥50% and received a permanent implant. At 12-month follow-up, VAS, Neuropathic Pain Scale, SF-12 physical and mental scores improved by 57.4% +/- 10% (P = 0.005), 60.2% +/- 12.9% (P = 0.006), and 21.9% +/- 5.9% (P = 0.015), respectively. Conclusions Our data suggest that this new technique of brachial plexus stimulation may have long-term utility in the treatment of painful upper limb complex regional pain syndrome. New more detailed comprehensive studies should be carried out to confirm our findings in a larger population and to further refine the clinical implementation of this technique.

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