by Keven Mosley-Koehler

Physical activity has always been central to my personality. I grew up as a tomboy, spending most of my time outdoors climbing trees, swimming, or ice-skating on the nearby river, and playing football with the neighborhood boys. As I got older, excelling in athletics became a major focus in my life.

My active lifestyle led to my fair share of various sports injuries. I got to know my body and its healing processes quite well. So when I was 32 years old and sprained my ankle playing soccer in March 1993, I knew that my body's reaction to this injury was anything but normal. Unfortunately, my physician at the time did not have the education nor experience to diagnose anything but a severely sprained ankle. Five months had passed before Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy (RSD) was correctly diagnosed. I was on crutches, in unbearable pain, and had the classic symptoms of the condition, including extreme temperature changes, burning pain, discoloration, edema, atrophy, hyperalgesia, and nail and hair changes.

Read more about Keven Mosley-Koehler's story on living with RSD at http://www.ncpad.org/yourwrites/keven022103.htm