How effective is hand therapy for complex regional pain syndrome?

Complex regional pain syndrome may cause pain that feels disproportionate to an injury, along with swelling, stiffness, altered skin temperature or colour, and sensitivity to touch. A hand therapist assesses how these changes affect the wrist, fingers, grip, and daily tasks. Treatment is adjusted to your response rather than forcing a painful movement.

Sessions may include gentle range-of-motion work, desensitisation using carefully chosen textures, oedema management, graded strengthening, and practice with meaningful tasks. The aim is to give the nervous system safe movement experiences while preserving function. Progress can be uneven, and a flare does not automatically mean the treatment has failed.

Tell the therapist what makes symptoms worse, how long a flare lasts, and which tasks matter most to you. Agree on a small home programme and a way to judge whether the dose is manageable. Gentle, frequent practice may be more suitable than pushing through intense pain. Keep the hand in comfortable positions between exercises and follow any swelling or skin-care instructions.

Your plan may need coordination with a doctor, pain service, or occupational therapist. Ask how to adapt exercises on a difficult day and how progress will be measured. [Hand Therapy](/treatments/physiotherapy-and-rehabilitation/hand-therapy/) provides an overview of this treatment.

Contact your clinician if swelling, colour or temperature change, pain, or stiffness suddenly worsens, or if exercises repeatedly cause a prolonged flare. Seek urgent help for a new severe injury, rapidly spreading redness with fever, chest pain, or sudden weakness. These changes need assessment rather than a routine exercise adjustment.

What movement or function should we target first? How will we keep exercises within a tolerable level? Which changes should make me pause home practice? Could I benefit from coordinated pain or occupational therapy support?