Cycling for CRPS

Co-founder and Chairperson of CRPS UK, Amanda Nelson, developed CRPS in 2010, after suffering numerous soft tissue injuries, caused by a rare congenital foot deformity – Navicular Calcaneal Coalition (bilateral), which was diagnosed at the age of forty. As a result of the condition she had a triple fusion of the left foot but had in retrospect, presented with CRPS symptoms long before the surgery. However, it was 18 months after the coalition diagnosis and 12 months post-surgery that a diagnosis of CRPS was made.

Pre-CRPS, she was very active, taking part in many sports, travelling extensively, living and working overseas. Developing CRPS changed her life irrevocably, which had a profound effect on her emotional and mental wellbeing. She began to turn her life around after rediscovering cycling through a charity called Charlotte’s Tandems and getting her beloved black Labrador, Dyson and training him as her service dog, with the help of Dog A.I.D. This in turn set her on a journey to raise awareness of CRPS, and Cycling for Complex Regional Pain Syndrome was born.