Does evidence support physiotherapy management of adult Complex Regional Pain Syndrome Type One? A systematic review.

Daly AE, Bialocerkowski AE

The objective of this review was to source and critically evaluate the evidence on the effectiveness of Physiotherapy to manage adult CRPS-1. There was good to very good quality level II evidence that graded motor imagery is effective in reducing pain in adults with CRPS-1, irrespective of the outcome measure used. No evidence was found to support treatments frequently recommended in clinical guidelines, such as stress loading

It is suggested that graded motor imagery should be used to reduce pain in adult CRPS-1 patients.

European Journal of Pain, 2008 Jul 10, online article ahead of print

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