Now there is hope for the many thousands of sufferers affected by the painful condition known as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, or RSD.

RSD causes intense burning pain in the skin, odd temperature and color changes in the limbs, even hair loss and bone fractures. Often, the problem starts out with a relatively minor injury or entrapment involving a nerve. The pain progresses and then transforms. RSD can affect entire regions of the body and can even spread to the whole body. Most pain medicines have no effect on the pain of RSD.

Now, with the guidance of MR neurography, it has been shown that many RSD patients can be cured. This is a wonderful development, since many patients have been told by their doctors that they have a cruel life sentence of pain due to their RSD.

Spinal stimulators, ganglion injections, complex drug regimens, hospitalizations, painful physical therapy – all have helped some sufferers reduce their pain. However, MR neurography can often locate the precise cause of the RSD. If a doctor can find and treat the source of the problem, the RSD often disappears completely and permanently. If the root cause – often a severely pinched nerve – is not fixed, then all the other treatments never seem to produce a lasting improvement.