Does mirror box therapy help in RSD pain?
 

1. Does mirror box therapy help in RSD pain?
2. Where can I buy such a box in U.S? On the Net I found boxes avalibale from U.K and Australian Website only.

I am a responder to Mirror therapy. Not everyone is. Don't waste your money buying a mirror box. For a few dollars you can but a long one at the dollar store. Please use the search box at the top of the forum and search all threads for Mirror Therapy. There is lots of useful information there. Also do a pub med search of articles written on graded motor imagery, mirror therapy, body image and Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, particularly those written by Dr. Candy McCabe. You might also do the same u tube search. Educate yourself first. (The chances are very good that your physician and/or physical therapist are not knowledgeable regarding this treatment.) Many people try mirror therapy and believe they are not responders because they did not do it correctly.

Hope this helps.

But most mirrors that are available at places like Target, can't be placed on a desk so you could do mirror therapy on hand. How do you make them stand?

I place it on a card table and put a phone book against it to hold it. Lots of different ways using different size mirrors. Do a u tube search for more.

Hi I tried mirror therapy, by moving only my good hand. Initially I tried the excercise for 15 minutes a day, but my pain in bad still went up. Then I tried reducing it to just one minute a day and the pain still went up in my bad hand.
This doesn't make sense that even though I'm not moving my bad hand at all, just looking in the mirror the reflection of my good hand, is making by pain go up. That means my brain pathways for pain are really messed up.
Has anyone experiecced the increased pain with mirror therapy? Does the pain go away or lessen after continued mirror therapy use?

Prior to mirror therapy I used graded motor imagery. Some people who do not initially respond to mirror therapy have a better response after graded motor imagery. Once again do a thorough search on this topic to educate yourself. I did not spend the money on the prepackaged photos of the hand positions. I shared them with my PT, and she made a set of photos for me, which really helped. Then I really took of with mirror therapy. It is cheap to try this on your own. If your P/T will help, all the better. The pre packaged photos are pricy, very costly if it doesn't work.

The wacky responses demonstrate how badly CRPS brains reorganize for the worse. Give graded motor imagery a try and see if it helps. There is a good book, maybe by David Butler called "Explain Pain" See if you public library can get it for you. Also do some searches on CRPS and Brain Plasticity.

If things do not improve you will have educated yourself enough to understand how tDCS works and you might try that next.

You might consider sending an e-mail to Candy McCabe asking her for references regarding increased pain after mirror therapy. (I no longer have her email address but it was not hard to find with a search of journal publications.) When I have written to authors and researchers over the past several years I briefly state my issue and then request copies of the author's pertinent research or others that they may be familiar with. Don'r ask for medical advice or you will either get no response or a polite dismissal.

Hope this helps!