COMPLEX REGIONAL PAIN SYNDROME
I really enjoy working with clients with CRPS. It seems to be one of the most painful pain conditions but also one of the quickest and easiest to fix. I think this is because it is often experienced in isolation and has not ended up linked in with many other conditions such as chronic fatigue and anxiety. I have seen nearly all my CRPS clients recover – even higher success rates than my other client groups. The record holder so far was able to get rid of all her CRPS pain and restore normal skin tone in seven minutes!
WHAT CAUSES CRPS?
A medical answer is that there is swelling in the central nervous system and maladaptive neural pathways which send pain messages through the body that are disproportionate to the original injury experienced. Fluctuating blood flow can cause extra swelling, skin turning red or purple, temperature changes and sharp pain. With time, the pain usually starts to spread from the original injury site (around 90% of sufferers) and for an unlucky 35%, the pain is then felt all over the body. However, this still begs the question – why? Clients often report that their initial injury was so small and insignificant, and yet a few weeks later, they are suddenly in enormous pain. I believe that this is because their body has got stuck in a stress response and this has affected their neural pathways. I have observed that people with CRPS are usually very high achievers and very driven, which has put their system under huge demand. They are often young children who are star sports players or academics and are succumbing to the pressure of being so successful. This can be a contributing factor to their pain.
HOW CAN EMPOWER THERAPIES HELP?
There are two options for CRPS treatment at Empower Therapies:
The Switch (four day programme) teaches you about how your brain produces pain messages and how you can re-programme those faulty neural pathways. You will learn techniques that you will need to practice often to switch off those faulty neural pain messages and to close the neurological pain gates throughout your body that have become falsely open. You will also learn about the role of stress in producing pain, and about thinking patterns and beliefs that exacerbate pain. You will explore any underlying emotional issues from your past that are also contributing to your pain and learn simple, quick techniques for releasing old issues.
I have also had success by doing a combo of the webinar series and an NLP (Neuro-linguistic Programming) session that I have personally developed, tailor-made for CRPS clients. This approach teaches people about the physiology of pain and how to use techniques to simply shut the pain gates. It does not deal with emotional issues and stress response, so this intervention is not suitable for everyone. While it has completely stopped all pain within one session for a number of clients, I have found that some of them developed pain again several years later and then needed the full Switch programme to deal with the background issues that have not been addressed by such a short intervention. It may be advisable to do the full Switch programme even if the NLP session has stopped the pain.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE SWITCH?
Or find out more about The Switch.
HOW CAN YOU HELP YOURSELF?
1. Get your hope back about recovery being possible by watching some of the movies on this website. Just knowing that there is an answer can help people to relax and calm their stress response and start getting improvements.
2. Start actively reducing your stress response by doing things like meditation, breathing exercises, and activities that you find particularly relaxing.
3. Every time you catch yourself thinking about your pain, immediately make yourself think about something else instead. If you re-route your brain often enough, you can start creating changes to those faulty neural pathways.
4. Spend time everyday visualising all your pain gates shutting (perhaps you need to do some gate maintenance such as painting them, squirting CRC on the hinges et cetera?), or imagining a giant truck jack knifing on a motorway, blocking all the pain traffic from getting through. An orthopaedic surgeon has reported good results with his clients by getting them to use this imagery, as it helps to slow down the automatic pain message traffic going through your body.
If these suggestions fix your CRPS – FANTASTIC! If these very simple interventions are not enough for you, that’s OK. We have a lot of far more comprehensive techniques and education available at The Switch that will allow you to make bigger transformations.
STATISTICS
Below are graphs showing my statistics of my first 15 clients with CRPS. They all made full recoveries.
Length of CRPS illness
RECOVERY TIME
BUSTING UNHELPFUL CRPS MYTHS
“Only children can recover from CRPS”
Of the 13 recent CRPS clients, 10 were children and they all recovered within a few days. Three adults also did the course and they all recovered within a couple of weeks and experienced dramatic pain reductions within the first 3 days.
“Recovery is only possible in the first year of having CRPS”
There is a nasty myth perpetuated by doctors and media that people who have had CRPS for longer than a year cannot hope to recover. I have seen no evidence for this. I have had several clients who had CRPS for 8 – 10 years and they also fully recovered.
“Results won’t last”
I follow up my clients for at least six months and I consistently see people maintaining their improvements long term. I sometimes hear from clients who resolved their CRPS five years ago and they report that they can barely even remember what it was like to have had CRPS. They do not fear that they will ever have it again. This is because they have learnt how to fix themselves and have actively rewired their own brain, rather than having someone else treat them.
“Treatment for CRPS will be very painful”
While the hospital physiotherapy treatment for CRPS can very painful and requires many months of purposely using the affected limb and massaging it through the pain, treatment at Empower Therapies does not cause additional pain. This is because we work by retraining the mind, rather than targeting the affected limbs. Most clients experience a dramatic pain reduction very quickly and are usually pain-free and medication-free within a few days or weeks.
ARE YOU READY FOR THE SWITCH?
Or find out more about The Switch.
CLIENTS TESTIMONIALS
Abby had CRPS so badly that she had to wear a glove over her hand and could not even turn pages in a book. She achieved this first goal on the evening of Day 1, and on Day 3, she…
It's always exciting to me when clients can manage to fix long term health problems just from attending my two hour intro seminar! While the statistics are obviously lower than the outcomes of people who attend the full four day…
Lyla got CRPS in her leg when she was 13 years old, and spent three years on the maximum dose of Tramadol that is allowed - 450mg per day, and yet she was still in too much pain to even…
Watch 12 year old Isla recover from CRPS (Complex regional pain syndrome) in just a few weeks with help from Mel Abbott at Empower Therapies. We start with photos and an explanation from NLPL Master Practitioner Mel Abbott about how…
Lily, aged 11, broke her ankle in May 2020, and later developed CRPS. When she attended The Switch, she had an amazing transformation in a matter of days! Lily never talks about CRPS now. It makes her feel physically ill…
When you are ill for a really long time, it's hard to even remember what life as a healthy person was like. Watch this movie of a group of previous clients having a fun day out with me, to be…
Emma started getting pain in her elbow in 2015, and it was all downhill from there. She was diagnosed with CRPS – left arm, POTS, IBD – including emergency colectomy, food intolerances, and MCAS. This led to severely restricted day-to-day…
Madee spent months doing mainstream treatment at Starship Hospital and the Wilson home but was still in terrible pain. She did one NLP session with me and left my house walking! This is quite a long movie created by Madee’s…
Watch this video of Sienna as she recovers from CRPS in just one session!
Kate had a football accident and then developed CRPS. She was unable to walk or attend school. When she attended The Switch, she got rid of all her pain and was back to football training on the morning of Day…
ARE YOU READY TO SWITCH?
Disclaimer: We are not medically trained and therefore did not diagnose these clients ourselves. We rely on client information about their diagnosis from their health professionals and we recommend clients to return to their doctors after our treatment to confirm that they no longer have their condition and to be advised about safe weaning from their medication. We cannot guarantee results, as every individual is different, however, we have seen excellent results for the vast majority of our young clients (even higher than the adult success rates), and have followed them up for a year to confirm that they are maintaining their positive changes. Note: It is very important that it is the child’s decision that they want to come to see me, not the parent’s, because it is the child who will have to do the work to get well. It’s a good idea to talk to your child about mind-body approaches, get them to watch some of the movies on my website and see if they are keen. If they are keen, they will need to fill in their own application form because it is their answers and perceptions that I am interested in.