A Simple and Practical New Method for Alleviating Phantom Limb Pain

I believe that many amputees have experienced phantom limb pain, and you can only experience the uncomfortable feeling yourself. Now there are new ways to treat phantom limb pain. Let’s first understand what phantom limb pain is.

 

Phantom limb pain

Phantom limb pain, also known as phantom limb pain, means that the patient feels that the severed limb is still there and pain occurs there. Pain mostly occurs at the distal end of the amputated limb, and the pain has various properties, such as electric shock-like, cutting-like, tearing-like or burn-like. It manifests as persistent pain that worsens episodically. Various drug treatments are often ineffective.

Check out the new method

American VS Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition at the University of California, has found that this pain can be solved in many patients by using mirrors to superimpose the reflection of the real limb onto the phantom position. He found that the movement of the real limb could "trick" the brain into relieving the tension in the phantom limb.

98% of amputees can vividly feel the missing part. Two-thirds of people with "phantom limbs" also experience severe pain, as if the limb is tight.