Spinal cord
-
This paper seeks to consider the validity and utility of two related terms in spinal and other injuries: complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and chronic pain syndrome (CPS). It is argued that the words chronic regional pain syndrome convey neither understanding of the condition nor of its mechanism. ⋯ The diagnosis of CPS groups together ill-defined symptoms under a convenient, but medically untestable and therefore inept label. Patients, lawyers, and support groups commonly deny psychogenesis, with the sadly mistaken notion that this implies a bogus or spurious cause.