Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what research his Department has commissioned into complex regional pain syndrome.

The Department has not commissioned specific research into complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) but a range of related research is funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).

The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting patients to two studies relating to CRPS:

- Development of an Electrical Sensory Discrimination Therapies device for the relief of chronic pain in CRPS. A proof of concept study

- An Intervention Trial to Investigate the Effectiveness of Visual Illusions in Manipulating Body Perception Disturbances to Reduce Chronic Pain and Improve Movement Performance

There is also an active Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Researcher-Led project (which is funded by the Medical Research Council and managed by NIHR):

- Low-dose Intravenous Immunoglobulin Treatment for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (‘LIPS’) Randomised Controlled Trial.

Other research, carried out within the last two years, includes:

A Health Services and Delivery Research project:

- Meeting the support needs of patients with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome through innovative use of wiki technology

CRN studies:

- A Multi-Centre International Study Exploring the Patients' Definition of Recovery from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome

- Visually Manipulating Body Perception Disturbances to Treat Chronic Pain: An Exploratory Study

NIHR Career Development Fellowships:

- Understanding sensorimotor integration and its role in pain. Feasibility study to evaluate the potential of multi-modal imaging systems in CRPS

- Sensorimotor conflict and its relationship to behavioural and neurophysiological variables in CRPS, FMS, arthritis and healthy volunteers