Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS)

Dr. Robert Barth's work focused on the concept of
complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS)

CRPS is the concept that replaced the concepts of
reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) and causalgia

The American Medical Association has repeatedly asked Dr. Barth to work on AMA publications and programs which have addressed complex regional pain syndrome.  Dr. Barth’s work with the AMA has included:

• Contributing to the AMA’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment
• Specifically including being asked to assist with the writing of the discussions of complex regional pain syndrome (the concept which has replaced the concepts of reflex sympathetic dystrophy–RSD and causalgia).
• Serving as a reviewer for the AMA’s Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment
• Specifically including being asked to review several drafts of various discussions of complex regional pain syndrome
• Writing additional AMA publications, addressing complex regional pain syndrome, and, in a historical context, also addressing reflex sympathetic dystrophy (RSD) and causalgia.  These publications have addressed:
• Diagnosis standards
• Impairment evaluation
• Differential diagnostic considerations
• Causation (e.g., injury-relatedness, work-relatedness, etc.)
• The history of the concept of complex regional pain syndrome
• The scientific status of the concept of complex regional pain syndrome
• Providing continuing education for the AMA’s House of Delegates, including lecturing specifically on the development of CRPS-like presentations

Dr. Barth has also been asked to provide teaching, writing, and editorial review duties focused on complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) for other medical academies and medical publishers. This has included:

• American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
• Invited by the Medical Director of AAOS to create a discussion of the differential diagnostic process for complex regional pain syndrome
• Invited to teach repeatedly on the subject of complex regional pain syndrome at AAOS conferences
• European Union of Medicine in Assurance and Social Security
• Invited twice to lecture on complex regional pain syndrome
• American Academy of Neurology
• Serving as a reviewer for AAN in regard to the American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine’s (ACOEM) Occupational Medicine Practice Guidelines regarding complex regional pain syndrome
• American College of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
• Being invited to consult directly to the editor-in-chief of the ACOEM Guidelines in regard to complex regional pain syndrome
• American Academy of Disability Evaluating Physicians
• Repeatedly being asked to teach doctors about complex regional pain syndrome
• Occupational and Environmental Medicine Press
• Invited to write about complex regional pain syndrome

Dr. Barth has also been asked to provide continuing professional education programming addressing complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) for several governmental agencies and other organizers of healthcare conferences, including:

• Alberta, Canada, Workers Compensation Board
• Florida Workers Compensation Educational Conference
• Alabama Division of Workers Compensation
• Georgia State Board of Workers’ Compensation
• Mississippi Workers’ Compensation Commission
• Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development
• SEAK Annual National Workers Compensation and Occupational Medicine Conference