Imagine that you fractured a bone in your leg. You elect to have surgery, and the procedure goes so well that the bone heals in half the time. Usually, this would be great news. It’s just that you continue to deal with lingering and unexplained pain that shouldn’t be there.
Your leg is red and swollen months later. And even the slightest touch is uncomfortable. What’s worse, your doctor confirms that you are 100% healed yet can’t fully explain the phenomenon.
This is where the experts at Advanced Pain Institute of Texas can help. The name for what you’re experiencing is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. And while you may feel like you have a rare condition that no one knows about, the reality is that we help patients every week who are in a similar position.
And more often than not, we can get them back to feeling like themselves relatively quickly.
“I recently had a patient who was in considerable pain and knew something wasn’t right,” Dr. John Broadnax said. “She was distraught, but we managed to help her. The key is early detection and treatment.”
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome is a disease where the body’s nervous system still thinks there’s an ongoing issue after an injury, whether it be because of a fractured bone, trauma, or surgery. So even though the injury healed, the patient exhibits a great deal of pain that isn’t related to the injury itself.
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome can happen anywhere in the body, and the key is to seek help quickly.
“What we usually see is that the patient is hypersensitive to touch, and there may be a difference between the two extremities — with one being more swollen, red, or blue,” Dr. Broadnax said. “We do physical therapy to get the limb moving and regain range of motion. At the same time, we increase comfort and decrease nervous system pain through neuropathic pain medications.”
Dr. Eric Anderson agreed, adding, “In some cases, we can do a sympathetic nerve block to ease the discomfort. And if that doesn’t work, we can turn to a spinal cord stimulator. The big thing is early treatment.”
Located in Lewisville, Advanced Pain Institute of Texas is the go-to source for pain management treatments and head-to-toe remedies. To learn more, visit apitexas.com or call 972-866-4246.
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