The "Hidden" Injury: CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) Payouts & Settlement Values
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CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) is one of the most serious, but often misunderstood, conditions a personal injury victim can encounter. It doesn’t always show up on imaging, but it can be life-altering. It is particularly frustrating for those injured in a Michigan car accident or involved in a personal injury case. If you are researching CRPS car accident settlement amounts, you likely know that many people, including their own doctors, don’t believe the victim, and the insurance company doesn’t either.
This article explains what CRPS is, its common symptoms, how a car accident can cause it, and treatment options.
Quick Summary: CRPS Car Accident Settlement Amounts
What is the average settlement for CRPS in Michigan?
CRPS settlements typically range from $150,000 to over $1,000,000. Because CRPS (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome) is a permanent, life-altering nerve condition, payouts are significantly higher than standard soft-tissue injuries. Your specific settlement amount is determined by three main factors:
- Total Life-Care Costs: The cost of long-term treatments like spinal cord stimulators, ketamine infusions, and physical therapy.
- Loss of Earning Capacity: Compensation for your inability to return to work due to chronic neurological pain.
- Proving "Serious Impairment": Under Michigan’s No-Fault law (MCL 500.3135), we must prove the injury has a permanent impact on your normal life to unlock "Pain and Suffering" payouts.
Legal Tip: Since CRPS is a "hidden injury" that often doesn't show up on an MRI, insurance companies will try to deny your claim. You need a specialized medical-legal strategy to prove the diagnosis using the Budapest Criteria.
What is Complex Regional Pain Syndrome?
Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is a chronic nerve condition that typically develops after an injury, surgery, or trauma—even something relatively minor like a sprain or fracture.
It involves a malfunction of the nervous system, in which the brain and spinal cord continue to send pain signals long after the original injury should have healed.
Why It’s Called a “Hidden Injury”?
CRPS is often referred to as a “hidden injury.” This is for multiple reasons. First, often no visible damage can be identified on X-rays, MRIs, or CT scans. Second, symptoms often seem disproportionate to the original injury. This often leads to patients getting misdiagnosed or not believed. In addition, the pain is neurological and difficult to pinpoint.
What are Common Symptoms of CRPS?
CRPS usually affects an arm, hand, leg, or foot, and symptoms can evolve over time.
Severe Pain:
One of the more prevalent symptoms is severe, persistent pain. This pain will feel burning, stabbing, or even electric. The pain is usually out of proportion to the original injury. Even a light touch can cause very intense pain.
Skin Changes:
Another common symptom is changes to the skin. The skin temperature will fluctuate, with the limb hot or cold compared to other body parts. Discoloration or color changes is common. For example, the skin can turn red, purple, or blotchy.
The discoloration occurs because CRPS is a dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, which controls blood flow, temperature, and circulation. CRPS interrupts this control, especially after a trauma such as a car accident. Instead of properly controlling blood flow, the nerves send confused, exaggerated, or inconsistent signals.
Swelling:
The affected limb may have significant swelling and extensive inflammation. This may get worse or better over time.
Hypersensitivity:
This is a major symptom. CRPS causes severe pain from stimuli that are normally painless. For example, the light touch of a piece of clothing can feel unbearable to a person suffering from CRPS. Because the nervous system is not functioning properly, its response to basic stimuli is not reasonable.
Limitations:
There may be limited range of motion, weakness, muscle spasms, and difficulty using the limb.
How Does a Car Accident Cause CRPS?
A motor vehicle accident is one of the most common causes of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS). This is not because of the crash itself, but because of what it does to the nerves, tissues, and the body’s pain system in the aftermath. CRPS is not about the severity of the underlying injury, it’s about how the nervous system responds to the injury.
When a crash occurs, the body is subjected to sudden forces, such as impact with the steering wheel, door, or dashboard, seatbelt restraint injuries, and impact with the airbag, as well as twisting forces. These forces can cause fractures, sprains, ligament tears, and nerve trauma. This trauma can trigger CRPS.
Trauma can manifest itself in different ways. There is nerve trauma where the pain signals to and from the brain become distorted or sensitized. Trauma can also over-dilate or constrict blood vessels. This leads to poor circulation and hypersensitivity. It also creates skin discoloration and temperature changes.
How is CRPS Diagnosed?
A diagnosis of Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS) is made based on the Budapest Criteria. To make the clinical diagnosis of CRPS, the following criteria must be met:
- Continuing pain, which is disproportionate to any inciting event.
- Must report at least one symptom in three of the four following categories:
- Sensory: extreme sensitivity to touch and or increased pain from normal stimuli
- Vasomotor: reports of temperature differences and/or skin color changes
- Sudomotor/Edema: reports of edema, swelling or sweating changes with abnormal sweating.
- Motor/Trophic: reports of decreased range of motion and/or motor dysfunction (weakness, tremor, dystonia) and/or trophic changes (hair, nail, skin)
What Medical Tests Show a CRPS Diagnosis?
No single lab test or imaging study fully supports a CRPS diagnosis. Instead, the doctors must rule out other conditions. However, bone scans, X-rays, MRIs, and thermography can help determine whether a patient has CRPS.
What are Common Treatments for CRPS?
Early treatment for CRPS is very important to help reduce the horrible symptoms. Traditional treatments include:
- Physical therapy
- Occupational therapy
- Medication
- TENS unit – transcutaneous nerve stimulation can help reduce pain and swelling
- Sensory discrimination training
Physical therapy can help restore movement to the affected limb, increase the range of motion, and stop muscle wasting. Graded motor imagery (GMI) is another rehabilitation technique to help retrain the brain’s pain processing systems.
Medication can also help. Doctors may prescribe drugs to reduce inflammation, nerve pain and muscle dysfunction. These medications can include: Gabapentin, Duloxetine, and Pregabalin.
Another form of treatment for CRPS is injection therapy. This includes nerve blocks that help improve blood flow and reduce swelling. A more aggressive treatment option is a spinal cord stimulator. This is when an electronic device is implanted in the lower back. The device sends small electrical impulses to help alleviate pain signals.
CRPS Payouts in Michigan Car Accidents
CRPS is a real, severe, and often debilitating condition that can result from even a minor Michigan car accident. Doctors and nurses often have difficulties diagnosing the condition, leading to frustration for the injured victim and their families.
The Michigan car accident attorneys at the Lee Steinberg Law Firm are experts in CRPS cases. We have handled them for years and understand the nuances of the illness and how to explain it to a judge, jury and insurance company. This can result in a higher payout or settlement for your case.
The Best Michigan Car Accident Lawyers Who Get Results
If you were injured because of what someone else did – or didn’t do – there’s no need to face your injuries alone. The experienced Michigan car accident lawyers at The Lee Steinberg Law Firm, P.C. are here to fight and win for you.
Don't suffer in silence if you have been injured because of someone else’s negligence. The Lee Steinberg Law Firm, P.C., can help you recover money for your pain and suffering, lost wages, and medical expenses.Call us at 1-800-LEE-FREE (1-800-533-3733) for free legal consultation. There are never any fees or costs unless we are successful in getting you compensation.
