Delaware County CRPS/RSD Lawyer

When an injury lingers and keeps you from feeling like you have fully recovered, it can be confusing.  Doctors might tell you that you are better, but you might still feel pain that keeps you from working or going about your day – and your doctors might not even be able to explain it right away.  In many cases, this is CRPS, which can lead to additional Workers’ Comp benefits and coverage.

CRPS – formerly known as RSD or RSDS – is essentially an overreaction from your nerves that produces serious pain and discomfort.  If this condition can be linked to an initial work injury, your care and time away from work should be covered under Workers’ Comp, and our lawyers can help you make this claim for benefits.

For a free case evaluation, call Cardamone Law’s Delaware County workers compensation lawyers today at (267) 651-7945.

What is CRPS or RSD for Injured DelCo Workers?

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a common name for a condition that used to commonly be called reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome (RSD or RSDS).  CRPS is a confusing disorder that is often disregarded as psychological or psychosomatic because it can be difficult to identify and prove.  The main symptoms of CRPS or RSD involve disproportionate pain responses in an area affected by a previous injury, along with potential physical changes in appearance in the affected area, sensitivity to hot and cold, weakness, and stiffness.

CRPS is by no means common, but when it does occur, it often does so after an initial injury.  The feeling of raw nerves after what might otherwise be a mild or moderate injury will often seem disproportionate, causing doctors – especially doctors working for Workers’ Compensation carriers – to dismiss the pain as merely imagined.  Because of this, it often takes specialist visits, tests, and ruling out other potential causes of injury before you can prove that you have CRPS, let alone get coverage for it.

Our Certified Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Specialists help workers with CRPS from various sources and injuries fight their employers and Workers’ Comp carriers to get coverage by helping them prove their condition exists and is severe enough to keep them from going back to work.  When we are successful in this task, you should be entitled to coverage for your medical care as well as lost wage coverage through Workers’ Comp.

Work Injuries That Cause CRPS in Delaware County

First, note that our lawyers cover workers in many different industries.  The injuries you face at work could be quite varied depending on where you work, but CRPS can affect workers in many different fields.  As such, all of these injuries might not apply to your job, but they are potential sources of CRPS:

Nerve Damage

CRPS can come in two types, with type 2 resulting from detectable nerve damage.  With this condition – also called “causalgia” – your doctor should be able to detect the nerve damage and produce evidence that that is what is causing your pain.  This is often a simpler condition to make a Workers’ Compensation claim with because we can link some accident to the resulting nerve damage and show that this condition is definitively connected to an injury you sustained at work.

As for the specific injury that caused the nerve damage in the first place, this could be a broken bone, a serious abrasion or scrape, blunt force trauma, deep cuts, and more.  These are also, incidentally, some of the most common causes of type 1 CRPS, which has no detectable nerve damage.

Broken Bones

Even without detectable nerve damage, an initial injury that caused a broken bone could result in CRPS.  This would definitely be considered a work-related injury if you broke your bone while performing job duties, such as driving or operating machinery.  Broken bones can also happen in falls from heights or slip and falls, as well as other common workplace accidents.

Cuts and Lacerations

Whether you are cut by a tool, a piece of broken glass, a tightened rope/cable, or something else, it can leave you with deep cuts or lacerations.  If the cut leads to disproportionate pain even without nerve damage, it is possible that you could need treatment and added time away from your job because of CRPS.

Blunt Force Trauma

Blunt force injuries can cause internal injuries and require you to take quite a long time off work to deal with organ damage, broken ribs, and other internal injuries.  Additionally, it could lead to CRPS symptoms, though this is rarer.  More often, CRPS from blunt force trauma will come near the surface, with the skin in the injured area potentially developing a different appearance and sensitivity to touch, temperature, and other changes.  These are the kinds of effects typical of CRPS that can interfere with your ability to work.

Proving You Have CRPS For a Workers’ Compensation Claim in Delaware County, PA

With type 2 CRPS, there is often nerve damage that can be shown on scans or through examinations, providing clear, concrete proof of actual damage resulting in actual – and expected – pain.  Because of this, linking your work injury to symptoms of type 2 CRPS is likely simpler than with type 1 CRPS.

If you have type 1 CRPS that cannot be linked to specific, identifiable nerve damage, it is still quite possible to prove that the condition is real and not just in your mind.  Many injury victims and people with other disabilities often see a struggle to get their condition identified.  This becomes even more of a hassle because your Workers’ Comp benefits might depend on proving your condition first.  Even so, our lawyers can look into your medical records for proof that you did not have these symptoms before your work injury and that they only arose after the work injury, with no other intervening causes that might explain the injury.  We can also help you find specialists who can examine your condition and records, even if they are not on your employer’s list of approved Workers’ Compensation doctors.

Call Our Workers’ Compensation Lawyers for CRPS/RSD in Delaware County

If you were hurt at work and developed CRPS, call our Delco workers compensation lawyers at Cardamone Law today at (267) 651-7945.