J Foot Surg. 1990 Jan-Feb; 29(1): 55-8.

Combined anesthetic and surgical treatment of reflex sympathetic dystrophy following a healed crush injury of the foot.

Kleinman D, Rosen RC, Cohen JM.

Department of Anesthesia, Englewood Hospital, New Jersey 07631.

Reflex sympathetic dystrophy is an often overlooked diagnostic cause of posttraumatic pain. After wound healing, persistent pain frequently is treated with continued analgesic administration, physical therapy, acupuncture, nerve blocks, psychotherapy and sometimes even ignored in hopes that either the pain or the patient will "go away." The authors relate successful evaluation and treatment of reflex sympathetic dystrophy in the case of a young man with disabling pain following a healed crush injury to his foot.