reflex sympathetic dystrophy

reflex sympathetic dystrophy

noun

Definition of REFLEX SYMPATHETIC DYSTROPHY

: a painful disorder that usually follows a localized injury, that is marked by burning pain, swelling, and motor and sensory disturbances especially of an extremity, and that is often considered a type of complex regional pain syndrome in which peripheral nerve injury has not been identified—abbreviation RSD; see shoulder-hand syndrome