I get this too. The biggest thing for me is to avoid things that trigger my RSD...primarily anything cold. I wear gloves all the time now because I am so sensitive to it. If my pain flares then my hand/hands claw up and I cannot straighten them out at all. Last time it happened was a couple of days ago when it was super cold out and my car door was frozen shut. I couldn't use my right arm at all and the hand clawed up. Made it to work and couldn't even take my coat off all day. When I got home from work I managed to get into a hot bath with Epsom salts, followed by ultrasound heat therapy, lidocaine cream, and a heating pad for a couple of hours...that finally got me to a point where I could move my arm.

I have found this can also happen if I hold things for a long period of time. I like to stitch but have had to adjust the way I "hold" the stitching frame so that I am more propping it on my fingers or on the table because holding it in my hand will cause the clawing and pain. This also happened when I tried to use a duster at work...only a couple minute in my hand clawed and there was ridiculous pain. So...cold and immobilization are what seem to do me in. If I can avoid those things then it's rare that this happens. Of course...it's impossible to avoid these things all together and still live your life.