What is the Difference Between CRPS 1 and 2?
CRPS stands for complex regional pain syndrome, and it is an often severe neurological issue that can affect people after receiving another injury. Depending on which type you have, you might face different difficulties getting the condition assessed and diagnosed or different difficulties getting compensation and Workers’ Compensation benefits for your injury.
CRPS 1 has no identifiable nerve damage as its cause, but CRPS 2 does. Although the symptoms and severity of both types of CRPS are often similar – potentially leading to similar damages and challenges in a claim – this causal difference can make diagnosing CRPS 1 much harder. Without identified nerve damage, it can be hard to prove you have the condition, let alone get damages for it.
Call (267) 651-7945 for a free case evaluation with the Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Lawyers at Cardamone Law today.
CRPS Basics
CRPS is a neurological condition that can cause intense and disproportionate pain in a body part after receiving another injury. For example, if you broke your wrist, you might face burning nerve pain in the affected wrist that lasts for months after the pain from the broken wrist should have ended. CRPS can also come with symptoms that involve changes to the affected areas, such as hardened skin, hair growth, skin color, skim temperature, etc. You might also face sweating, joint pain, different bone growth, and many other strange effects.
Because CRPS is painful – and because it is usually attached to another initial injury – it can often drive up the value of injury claims. Because of this, insurance carriers are often less likely to believe that you have CRPS, and you will likely need additional medical evidence documenting the condition before insurance carriers will be willing to pay for additional medical treatment, therapeutics, rehabilitation, and lost earnings to cover your CRPS symptoms.
CRPS Types Defined
CRPS used to be referred to as “RSD” or “RSDS” – reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome, not to be confused with an ADHD symptom known as RSD (rejection sensitive dysphoria). RSD/RSDS or “sympathetic dystrophy” is sometimes used to refer to Type 1 CRPS, highlighting the fact that there is no known cause and that the main effects involve sympathetic nerve reactions. CRPS 2’s alternative name is “causalgia,” often affecting peripheral nerves (hands, feet, arms, legs).
How CRPS Type 1 Affects an Injury Claim
Our Pennsylvania CRPS lawyers focus our practice on getting injured workers benefits through Workers’ Compensation for accidents that happen in the course of their work, including CRPS cases. To do this, we need to provide medical evidence of their injury and its effects. The end result is typically coverage for lost earnings and medical care. However, the nature of CRPS Type 1 often makes it harder to prove your case.
Proof of Injury
CRPS of either type usually involves some underlying injury that starts off the CRPS symptoms. This could be a broken bone, a deep cut, serious bruising, or a number of other possible injuries. From there, you may need treatment for that underlying condition as well as the CRPS Type 1. This could involve treatment like physical therapy, medication, corticosteroid injections, and potentially even surgery, implants, and experimental/novel therapies.
Because Type 1 CRPS has no underlying nerve damage, it can be more difficult to prove you have it in the first place. You may need additional doctor’s appointments with specialists – which might not be covered at first – to gather the medical evidence for a diagnosis. If you have visible, physical symptoms the doctor can observe, it makes identifying CRPS 1 easier, but many patients truly have no visible symptoms, and verifying that the condition exists in the first place might be harder.
Approval for Treatment
Second, you may run into treatment issues. It could be difficult to show that your condition is serious enough to warrant certain therapies or medications, and convincing the insurance carrier to pay for them might require going to utilization reviews. In these “URs,” a doctor will examine the patient and the proposed treatment to analyze its effectiveness, and courts should grant coverage if it will be medically helpful. However, with some potentially controversial treatments like ketamine therapy, it could be an uphill battle.
Approval for Wage-Loss Benefits
Lastly, showing that your CRPS keeps you from working might be challenging. Again, we need to prove you have the condition in the first place, but we also need proof that it interferes with your ability to move, lift things, type, or perform other work-related tasks. If it does interfere with your ability to work, you should be entitled to replacement wages at certain rates based on your income before the injury.
How CRPS Type 2 Affects an Injury Claim
Because Type 2 CRPS is based on underlying nerve damage, it can be simpler to prove that the condition does exist. However, verifying the full extent of your symptoms still has some of the same challenges discussed above. Again, obtaining the necessary medication or care might also involve the same kinds of questions about efficacy, especially when it comes to new or novel therapies. You may also have the same difficulty showing that your condition is serious enough to stop you from working.
However, one silver lining to CRPS 2 is that the underlying nerve damage itself might benefit from the same sorts of therapies and might also result in an inability to work. This means that, even if you cannot provide the additional medical evidence necessary to get approval because of the CRPS symptoms, you might get your benefits paid based on the underlying nerve damage alone.
In any case, CRPS Type 2 is not really “better” than Type 1, and both conditions can lead to extensive time away from work, ongoing therapy and medication needs, and a long road to recovery.
Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for CRPS Today
If you were injured at work, call our Pennsylvania CRPS lawyers today at Cardamone Law by dialing (267) 651-7945.
