In early 2014, Farida Littlemore from Specialised Hand Therapy Services in collaboration with Dave Parsons from Curtin University embarked on a research project about Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS).
Our participants were clients who have been diagnosed with CRPS who are being treated by hand therapists nationally.
The aim of the study is to determine which treatment modalities used by hand therapy clinicians to treat patients with a diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome ( CRPS ) are viewed as being the most effective by the patient to reduce their symptoms of pain and oedema.
Our initial pilot results were presented the October 2015 Australian Hand Therapy Association Annual conference in Perth.
Initial results appear to suggest different modalities are more effective at different stages of the CRPS. The other interesting suggestion from our outcomes so far is that what hand therapists perceive to be the best modality to treat pain and oedema in CRPS clients, can be quite different to what clients perceive to be the most useful.
The project is still ongoing and we will continue to collect data. We hope this data will help us to be more effective in helping our clients recover from CRPS, in particular the symptoms of pain and oedema in the future. If you are interested in learning more about this study please contact our office on 9324 2881.
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