Loss of movement
 

Serious question:
Is loss of movement actually the loss of movement or the pain preventing it (until later on, after not moving, the movement is actually altered)?:Hum:

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

IHH,
There are a few possibilities that I know of, and I'm sure others can add more.

First - yes, pain can limit movement. One of the functions of pain is to stop you from moving an injured limb so it can heal.

Second - if you don't use an affected limb, or if circulation is badly decreased, you can develop ligament contractures, which will limit your mobility. One of the functions of PT for RSD patients is to a) prevent this from happening and b) try to reverse it when it does.

Third - If your circulation is poor enough, your muscles can begin to atrophy, and you can lose some ability to move the limb - this would have to be quite severe to impede mobility, and if this is happening to you, you need to speak to a doctor about it.


Sounds grim, right? The best course of action is to start some form of PT if you can - if possible, with someone who is familiar with RSD, or at least with nerve injuries/chronic pain. Mobility limitations can become a serious problem, and are harder to reverse as time goes on.

Best!

Hi,
 

I'm thinking it goes both ways.

When I saw my Dr. yesterday he told me to start exercising my hips because he thinks that my muscles are so tight that my pain may be coming from not exercising enough. I explained to him that I thought the pain was keeping me from being able to exercise like he wants me too.

I have been trying the exercises he gave me today and I'm feeling more pain so to me it seems like a no win situation.

Ada

Hey

I think it's a mix - I had explained to me by my consultant that the movement part of my brain is now covered in pain signals so that when my brain goes "move your arm" it instead goes OW OW OW and doesn't move -which is why visualisation of the movement before carrying it out can help. Also there is a link with proprioception - i don't know where my limbs are and so I can't tell how to move them.

also pain stops movement as does anxiety and fear of pain

Rxxxxxxxxxx

I'm goin gthru this right now, and coincidentally was gong to post on it today. My RSD is in my hands and arms and chest. From the get-go, I was told to keep my hands as flat as possible - perhaps sit while holding them on my thigh, as flat as I could. To even put them UNDER my leg/butt to keep them flattened. This was to prevent getting the "clawed hand" you sometimes see with RSD of the hands. What happens is the tendons in the center of the hand "shorten" and begin to draw the hand inward, causing all of the fingers, as well as the hand to cup.

Lately, my pain not only includes the burning and stinging and pins and needles...but also horrid spasms that just won't quit o matter WHAT I try. I am so danged sore by the time I get home from work, I am actually considering SSDI. And that's something I never wanted to consider a tall...but it's like the ocmputer is making me worse. I know it is. My hands haven't hurt this badly in a very very long time. I've noticed when I try to hold them straight, that I can feel the "pull" in the center of th hands, right whre PT told me that "draw" would be before the claw hands set in.

So to answer you...it can be both. The pain can make you not WANT to move, which can atrophy the muscles from lack of use, making you UNABLE to move cuz the muscles won't any longer. Or....the rsd can cause changes to the muscles and tendons, and even sometimes to the bones, making it impossible to not move.

If you have a "team" of doctors who did things properly, you should have had a "baseline" bone scan and they should be able to check and see if there are any changes. This is what I WANTED, but never got. I wish I had.

Wow. Thank you all for your thoughts... you really helped me to understand this better. :)

Hard to get past the scary part!
 

This is just one of the scariest things about RSD for me. It's been getting worse for me recently - suddenly cannot move my legs, or arms or sometimes both at once. Being completely stuck is quite terrifying, although I'm starting to get a little more 'used' to it. Of course, this makes everyone think I am even less able to do things myself than before - which is so demoralizing, just when i need to feel like there ARE still things I'm in control of, things I can do, things that make me have a point!

I like Frogga's explanation - the movement parts of the brain getting criss-crossed with pain messages. Those pain messages seem to be crossing over everywhere - and while not exclusive to RSD, it seems to predominate in RSD, which I think makes it hard for others to understand quite what's going on.

My RSD doctor told me to try to be calm (!!) and go through in my head the phrase 'tell your brain to tell your right leg to move' over and over - and also have someone else gently move the limb, talking calmly and slowly until I get 'unstuck' again.

that's how mine explained it to. she said I should think through the movement before I do it as this helps "prepare" the neurons for movement.

FRxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I understand and am going through this with my left extremity with part of right. It becomes very hard to be independent when you have to be dependent for help. I also like Frogga's explaination.Annick :hug:

I think that it can result for many reasons.



I have RSD in all both arms and legs, but it started in right foot so it is worse there. Last week and the weeks before, I was capable of moving all of my toes on that foot. Just Monday or Tuesday, they wanted me to move my toes and I tried really hard to move them and I realized that I couldn't. I could still feel all of my toes and the therapist was able to move them but I couldn't hold my toes up or down or do anything with them. The therapist seemed kinda worried, but she said okay thats good. Then she wrote it down and said she would be right back and she told my other therapist. That kinda worried me a little bit. Then 3 of my therapist had me try it when i went to their sesssion and i still couldn't do it. They had me try it again today (Friday) and I finally asked my pt why I couldn't move them and if I ever would be able to and she said it can be for a few reason:

It can just be weakness (she doesn't think that in my case though since I could do it before) or from pain but that isn't it or it could be atrophy or nerve damage (she is leaning towards atrophy :( ). She never quite answered if I ever could move them again or not. If it is atrophy or nerve damage, I already kinda know the answer :(


RSD sucks.