What Is Phantom Limb Pain?

Over the years scientists have noted many complaints of a strange form of pain called phantom limb pain. This pain is strange because it is located in an appendage that no longer exists. By many of the amputees the pain is described as totally unbearable. Phantom limb pain has even driven some victims crazy. For the amputee population this is a very real problem that definitely needs to be solved.

The author starts off by recalling his personal experiences with phantom limbs. A young boy had a phantom limb phenomenon. The term phantom limb was first used by Silas Weir Mitchell in 1872. Phantom limb seems to occur because of the images created by the images of the body and makes the person always believe that it is all there even after an amputation. The body is basically trying to make sense of the amputation. It is not actually caused by incorrect neural activity. It is actually more built from the part of the brain that creates the mental image of the body. Turns out on 90 percent of amputee actually have a phantom limb experience. Researchers have tried to treat phantom limb with the mirrors and Virtual Reality.

The phantom limb pain the woman is experiencing is described as a painful condition of the amputated limb after the stump has completely healed. It is a chronic pain that occurs in more than 80% of amputees especially those who suffered pain in the limb before the amputation. Theories suggest that phantom limb pain results from redevelopment or hyperactivity of cut peripheral nerves, scar tissue or neuroma formation in the cut peripheral nerves, spinal cord deafferentation, and alterations in the thalamus and cortex. More so, the CNS integration, which involves reorganization and plastic modifications of the somatosensory cortex, effects the receptors in perceiving the pain of the amputated limb despite of the limb itself being absent. In addition,

Researchers or research teams who elect a quantitative study are going to determine the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable within a population (Babbie, E.R., 2010). There are two types of quantitative study designs: descriptive and experimental. A descriptive design typically measures the subject once and establishes the association between the independent and dependent variables (Mujis, D, 2010). An experimental design measures the subject before and after a treatment and establishes causality between the variables (Brians, C.L. et al, 2011).

Phantom limb pain is the most fascinating phenomenon I have read about in the health field so far. The concept is crazy to imagine on your own body. The first time I have ever heard of phantom limb pain was in the first session of this Honors class, and I remember sitting in my chair shocked that this could possibly be a real experience for some.

In this academic journal Melanie Brown reports the benefits and experiences of using alternative and conventional methods to treat muscular skeletal pain. In this study Brown explains the methods people use to indicate what is going wrong or what is causing them problems and the methods they use in order to treat said ailment. Brown explains the methods and treatments used to treat muscular skeletal treatment, but she also shows the methods she used to collect the information. Brown used questionnaires, interviews,

When a person loses a limb, it is never a clean cut; whether it be the remnants of gore from the cut, the trauma of the loss, or the non-physical remnant of the limb itself, known as Phantom Limb Syndrome. Despite effecting 80% of all amputees, the sensation itself continues to mystify neuroscientists and is not yet fully understood. The most popularized type of phantom are the painful ones, seeing as it affects 50-80% of amputees regardless of whether their amputation was traumatic or done in a hospital for their health, but phantom limbs are not all painful and can come in many shapes, sizes, and types of sensations. (873)

For my final paper topic, I have chosen to discuss phantom limb pain. I was inspired to write about phantom limb pain after a recent visit to the Veterans Affairs hospital. I will be explaining the physiological aspects, including involvements of nerves, spinal cord, and the brain, as well as the psychological aspects, including grief, stress, depression and anxiety of phantom limb pain. According to Goldstein (2010), phantom limb pain is a phenomenon that a person whose limb has been amputated continues to experience the sensation of the limb (p.344). Along with the sensation of the amputated limb, patients can also experience pain, tingling, numbness, and temperature changes. People who were born without a limb can also experience phantom

Phantom pains, or phantom pain syndrome is the sensations of pain in a part of the limb that is already amputated or in a limb that is non-existent. Phantom limb pain occurs in the majority of many amputees, in a percentage of more than 80% of the population of amputees. There is no proper scientific explanation for the ghastly phenomenon, but scientists and doctors have their theories and explanations and some say the pain is originated from the spinal cord and the brain. However, treatments for phantom pain syndrome include drugs like painkillers, antidepressants,

Furthermore phantom limb pain is simply a sensation of pain. A patient experiences the pain in an affected extremity that no longer exists (McCance & Huether). Although nerve fibers have the capability to regenerate this is a time consuming process that does not always yield a fully functional nerve (Subedi & Grossberg, 2011).

With conflicting research and hardly valid data, to say that phantom limb syndrome is solely caused based on psychogenic mechanism of the patient is inaccurate. More recent research has strongly suggested peripheral mechanism to also be a factor in phantom limb syndrome. Once amputation of a limb or part of a limb is performed, a neuroma is created. Neuromas result from a trauma to the nerve and are typically formed on the site of an inquired sensory nerve, forming a knot in the area. The knot is mainly composed of axons that can no longer reconnect to the rest of the nerve cells due to amputation . These neuromas are the site where increased excitability due to an increased accumulation of molecules (recent research, scientist are not quite

Another obstacle to controlling pain in said population is that there is an “increased prevalence of cognitive, sensory-perceptual, and motor problems that interfere with a person’s ability to process information and to communicate [as

Pain is different for everyone, because the brain “…[creates] its own selective picture; a picture largely determined by what is important for the survival and reproduction of the species” (Axel 234). In addition, because “[o]ur perceptions are not direct recordings of the world around us, rather, they are constructed internally according to innate rules” (Axel 234), classifying and treating pain for a large group of individuals is problematic. When attempting to address this issue, the question must be presented: is there a particular type of therapy which hospitals can use to reduce pain perception of patients, thus improving (or upholding) their physical

Phantom limb pain (PLP) affects many individuals who have had a limb amputated. Individuals can experience pain in the residual limb, phantom sensations, and phantom limb pain. Pain in the residual limb is defined as pain at the site of an extremity amputation. This means the individual feels pain just above or at the location of the amputation (Hill, 1999). This type of pain is most common in the early post-amputation phase. Phantom sensations are defined as any sensation of the missing limb except pain. Phantom sensation is seen in almost all amputees (Hill, 1999). Phantom limb pain is defined as painful sensations referred to the absent limb (Hill, 1999). In this review of literature the following will be addressed; the triggers of phantom limb pain, the types of treatment for phantom limb pain, and a summary of findings.

The so-called "I-function" which describes the brain's sense of self takes on interesting connotations when discussing phantom limbs and associated phantom pain. The loss of an arm or leg through amputation is not an easy experience to endure, and is even more difficult when the patient begins to feel sensations in their now missing limb. These feelings, sometimes referred to as "stump hallucination", is the subjective sensation, not arising from an external stimulus, that an amputated limb is still present (1). Although they no longer exist, patients perceive these limbs as still being essential components of their body-image, and continues to move in sync with their torso and other