No animal model for RSD, etc
 

Animals don't get CRPS, yet there are some who want to call CRPS 1 by a new name "immobilization syndrome," because most CRPS occurs after immobilization. If the immobilization hypothesis was correct animals would get CRPS, but they don't even after they are immobilized and "most" is not all, I am in this category.

My CRPS journey began before I was immobilized. I had burning horrible pain, right after my crush injury, long before I was immobilized. I felt like my feet were socks filled with broken bones. The X-rays showed nothing.

Did you develop CRPS after immobilization?

My CRPS was directly linked to a surgery procedure due to a very bad truck accident. I was immobilized in the hospital three days before the surgery with frequent morphine doses and a week after surgery. CRPS came before immobilization in my case......

Mine started about 1.5 weeks after being in a boot for a foot sprain. I have always felt that I might have avoided it if I had not worn the boot. The pain kept getting weirder and more diffuse, but I had never heard of CRPS so I just thought it was that the injury was getting worse from walking in the boot. So then I went to non-weight bearing which of course just made it worse. I saw two podiatrists who never mentioned CRPS. I was diagnosed about 6 weeks after the first symptoms by a neurologist. I definitely think immobilization and using that dang knee scooter that helped mine develop.

This is very interesting. I have CRPS 2. Yet I recall a close pain to this years prior. And the doctors never were able to figure out why my arm swelled. And back then I was very active. So check me with Crps before immobilized.

Missy,

Your description of the pain getting "weirder and weirder" is what I experienced.

I told the doctors, etc that I did not understand the pain, because it was like nothing I had ever experienced. My feet were so painful I could barely touch them. I went to a shoe store every Sunday for weeks trying to find a pair of shoes I could walk in. I tried piles of over the counter insoles in new and old shoes, none helped.

Animals DO get CRPS. There are various reported case studies of CRPS in animals, just off the top of my head, I can recall one case report of CRPS in a cow.

There are also animal models in use for CRPS research. They tend to be difficult to generate because of the current thinking that CRPS is not one single condition and therefore any animal model is limited in its application. Currently the animal models are generally used to research trauma or immunity. In the trauma category, immobilisation is one of the specific features being researched (amongst others obviously).

I am on board with Neurochic. The animal model does exist but is tricky due to the complex etiology which is immune in some of us and not in others. Animal models for CRPS with allodynia and thermal hyperalgesia usually result from a deliberate constriction injury to the animals sciatic nerve. :( I hope the little guys sacrifices bring us some relief.

I read recently about the immobilization model including a nerves reaction to ANY form of immobilization including the nerve simply reacting to swelling that alters the way it can glide and transmit information. I found this fascinating.

Before I had a full on CRPS after my third surgery which required NO immobilization, I had flirted with it for a while with my original injury which had a lot of CRPSy features after swelling clunked that nerve down.

So complicated. I hope the supergeniuses get their rest this weekend before heading back to the pain lab on Monday so they can figure this thing out for us.
:grouphug:

This is very interesting. I found the following on Dr.Lox' s website this morning " What also adds to the confusing nature of complex regional pain syndrome is the fact that there lacks a veterinary correlate to CRPS, meaning animals do not contract CRPS."

I could not find any vet discussions of animal CRPS, but I will look further.

Found this: http://www.unboundmedicine.com/medli...pain_syndrome_

Take note of the treatment given to the cow.

Also the following: From VetsOnline Matthew Gurney

"Chronic pain in cattle

Bergadano et al (2006) described a Swiss brown cow that underwent digit amputation, but 39 days later developed signs consistent with complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) – a syndrome more common in people than cattle. Its features include:

• an initiating noxious event;

• spontaneous pain or allodynia/hyperalgesia;

• oedema or abnormalities in the skin blood flow;

• nerve injury; and

• exclusion of other potential causes.

In the case described, the cow demonstrated signs including non-weight-bearing pelvic limb lameness, muscle atrophy, hyperalgesia (rapid limb withdrawal in response to light touch), oedema of the fetlock and absence of joint infection. This case was unusual because CRPS developed despite peri-operative multimodal analgesia consisting of intravenous regional anaesthesia and NSAIDs. Treatment of the CRPS involved a multimodal approach using an epidural infusion including local anaesthesia, opioids, ketamine and alpha-2 agonists over 17 days. The cow was discharged with mild lameness and a muchimproved clinical condition."

Dog.

http://jaaha.org/doi/abs/10.5326/15473317-35-3-229

A LaBarre and BE Coyne (1999)
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy in a dog.
Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association: May/June 1999, Vol. 35, No. 3, pp. 229-231

and an article regarding animal models
http://speakingofresearch.com/2015/0...els-explained/

Dr Rosie Morland
Guest Post: CRPS Animal Models Explained