Over two years ago, while I was with the Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome Association of America (RSDSA), our Scientific Advisory Committee was invited by the Social Security Administration of the United States to assist this agency with writing the first standards for the diagnosis and management of RSD/CRPS. The committee has become international in scope with the following members:

The agency finally published SSR 03-2p in the Federal Register on October 20, 2003 (68 FR 59971) and became effective as of that date. This ruling explains Social Security policies for developing and evaluating Title II and Title XVI claims for disability on the basis of Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy Syndrome (RSDS), also frequently known as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, Type I (CRPS). These terms are synonymous and are used to describe a unique clinical syndrome that may develop following trauma.