Greetings,

Currently, I have some loss of range of motion in my toes, most noticeable my big toe can only planter flex by about 50%. At this time, I have been doing stretches daily for about 3-4 months.

My observation, is that their is some slight swelling in the toe and the joint/toe doesn't want to flex. Additionally, i have noticed that i'm more stiff in the evening, when the rest of my symptoms (redness, tingling, light throbs) increase.

I have two questions:

Does anyone have any suggestions on what I can do to restore my toes to their full range of motion?

What causes the swelling and joint stiffness that is associated with CRPS?


Thanks for any help!

Harry,

I have CRPS in my foot and over time, I've found out that stretching and exercises of the foot and toe are critical to my well being and are much more effective when done in "warm" water. The warm water loosens up the joints, which are especially stiff after sleeping.

I normally take a soak in the morning to ease all my other aches and pains, so I do my AM foot exercises in the tub.

Give it a shot. Good luck.

rsd affects the tissues in our body and can cause swelling and stiffness. i'm not exactly sure how thats done, but rsd hope and rsdsa can explain it better then me. early on with my rsd my neurologist gave me high doses of prednisone for a short time period to help bring down swelling so i could get more movement in my fingers and wrist. it helped a little with my fingers but not my wrist. pt exerices helps too. you may or may not get full range of motion back but its important to see your neurologist and/or pain management dr on a regular basis and keep exercising to try to keep you joints from swelling and stiffening up more. take care. hope your swelling goes down and soon.

For me...it takes constant effort to stretch and do PT exercises. I have gotten back almost full ROM...but if I let up on the exercising at all then I lose it again. I have exercises and stretches I do...but if I forget to do them and have an RSD limb immobilized for even a short period of time (even 10-15 minutes doing something as simple as holding something without flexing my hand/fingers) then I get the stiffness, swelling, and sometimes my hand will even claw up so I can't move my fingers at all. It can take hours to get things moving...days of constant (painful) work to get things back to where they were before.

I have the same trouble. My foot swells whenever I'm sitting up or on it. I have half the range of motion in my foot now. I walk like zombie because of a limp. I try so hard with PT to get it back. My therapist has told me she's at the point there's no more she can do for me. It's all me now. I still can't do anything though, the only relief I get is when my leg has been propped up on the couch. That's how I usually am to avoid the agonizing pain. The real down side is I never really go out. I have zero exercise because I cant. I used to be fit and active now I'm fat. Ugh... i'm talking to my doctor about a neurostimulator. What about your treatments?