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Phantom Limb Pain...It's very real, but it's all in your head!

The human brain is a most interesting organ.  Have you ever stopped to think about all the functions carried out by the brain in a typical day?  The brain is sort of like the conductor of an orchestra...sending signals to all parts of the body to control blood pressure, heart rate, ambulation, thoughts, moods, and everything in between.  Pretty amazing stuff, if you stop to think about it.




A most fascinating phenomenon known as phantom limb pain illustrates just how complex and amazing the human brain really is.  Phantom limb pain is something that occurs in patients who have experienced an amputation. The brain is telling them that they are having pain in an arm, a foot, a leg that has been surgically removed. But the reality is, that arm, foot, or leg is no longer there!

According to medical literature, physicians have been aware of this phenomenon since the 1860s;  In more recent years, there have been many amputations due to injuries of war and diabetes, and this has spurred new interest and more research in this area. Approximately ninety percent of Americans who undergo amputation experience phantom limb pain.

Medications have been a mainstay of treatment for decades, but more recently alternative therapies are being put to use. One such alternative is electrical brain stimulation, which can be used alone or in conjunction with medication.  Another newer treatment is Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in which a magnet is placed on a patient's head, and a weak current is sent through it to the brain's surface.  A small scale study of this technique demonstrated that TMS can provide long lasting relief from phantom limb pain.

Still another technique involves strategically implanting electrodes in the brain and stimulating them. This procedure goes deeper into the brain than does TMS. While more study is necessary, preliminary results from a very small study yielded positive results.

Current theory of phantom limb pain is that the brain retains memories of pain and/or sensations of the missing limb from time prior to amputation. Phantom pain can also occur in patients with paralysis. In this case, even though the nerves in the affected limb are damaged to the point where the limb can no longer function normally; at the same time the damaged nerves "misfire" and send abnormal pain signals back to the brain!

Sources: WashingtonPost; Wikimedia

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