Periodic Limb Research Paper

throughout her lower extremities bilaterally. She has 2+ knee and angle jerks bilaterally. Straight leg raising is accomplished at 90° on the left, however on the right patient complains of low back and leg pain at 60°.

What does it feel like to have a missing/paralyzed limb? I'm sure this question has popped into many of our heads at one point in time. You would think that the sensations and feelings from that limb would disappear altogether. However, for some people, they can still feel the presence of their limb even after it is gone. There is no clear answer as to why this happens, but one thing is for certain. A large percentage of people with phantom limbs will sometimes feel pain from that missing limb. There is nothing happening to the individual physically that would cause them to feel pain from their phantom limb. What is actually happening is that the nerves that are located at the area of amputation (the "stump") are sending signals to the brain, which tricks the brain into believing that the missing limb is still there. It is hypothesized that the brain may also interpret these signals as pain. I found this to be an interesting topic, as it gives a good example as to how our brains and nervous systems work when interpreting changes in the body.

Over time, doctors have seen countless patients that have complained of a strange form of pain sensation called phantom limb pain. The pain that patients are describing is occurring in appendages that are no longer part of their bodies. Many of these amputees have described this pain as utterly unbearable. For the amputee population, this is a very real problem that needs to be solved. Pain that is occurring in phantom limbs is very common in amputees. Mostly all amputees experience the sensation of phantom limb pain. Two-thirds of patients experience phantom limb pain, even 25 years after the loss of the limb. (Woodhouse) The vivid experience of a phantom limb often includes non-painful phantom sensations as which frequently reported in patients with phantom pain (Woodhouse).

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)

Up to 98% of people with an amputation experience a phantom limb at some point. 75% of these people experience these sensation (Phantom Limb Research, n/p). Phantom limb pain is pain that occurs in those who have had an amputation. They feel all kinds of sensation including tingling, burning, and cramping. For treatment there of this, there is medication that can be taken, massages and also nerve blocks. Over the years, there has also been another type of therapy called Mirror therapy. While there is no guarantee that these treatments fully work, they do relive pain for a short time.

Third, restless leg syndrome (RLS) also is a common sleep disorder. RLS is a neurological disorder that makes someone want to move their legs persistently. In some cases, body parts are persistent as well during sleep. Restless leg syndrome is considered a sleep disorder because whenever the constant need to shake the legs, it can make it hard to maintain sleep and the ability to get to sleep. One of the most common side effects reported that is related to RLS is sleep loss. Sleep lose can lead to diminished quality of life, sleepiness during the day, loss of memory, depression and many other symptoms.

Therefore, while correlational design methodology was definitely the way to go for this study, it seems that the use of self-report measures seems to have hampered the study’s reliability and perhaps its validity as well, as the questionnaire developed seems to have been incomprehensive, and participants not fitting within its bounds needed to be questioned individually (Giummarra et al., 2010). Nonetheless, the dataset that was gathered appears to be broad enough in scope to have reduced these issues to the point that they may only skew the data within the margin of error. Additionally, this study is certainly a pivotal reference point for future studies on the subject of phantom limbing, and, with better funding and the power of

She had uncontrolled diabetes (required insulin injections) and high blood pressure. She could “barely” afford medication because she did not have any income. Because of the health issues, she was unable to work.

Some underlying conditions may be restlessness, mood disorders, restless legs syndrome, and many other conditions.

Restless leg syndrome is not a serious neurological disorder, and moving the legs or walking around a little terminates the sensation for a time.

Somnambulism, or sleepwalking, belongs to a group of parasomnias. This disorder of arousal is characterized by complex motor behaviors initiated during stages 3 and 4 of non-rapid-eye-movement (NREM) sleep (slow-wave sleep) (3). Behaviors during sleepwalking episodes can vary greatly. Some episodes are limited to sitting up, fumbling and getting dressed, while others include more complex behaviors such as walking, driving a car, or preparing a meal (2). After awakening, the sleepwalker usually has no recollection of what has happened and may appear confused and disoriented. The behaviors performed while sleepwalking are said to be autonomous automatisms. These are nonrelfex actions performed without conscious volition and

Many individuals try their hardest not to sleep at night just so they wouldn’t experience this issue. It is very unhealthy but the paralysis is so frightening, they would rather not sleep.

Dyskinetic CP- dyskinetic motor patterns are characterized by slow and uncontrollable writhing or jerky movements of hands, feet, arms, or legs.

The patient remained in a primary a prone position and occasionally on his right side, he was not able to maintain a supine position. The patient was very hard to wake during the study he had very little to no difficulty initiating sleep. Occasional leg movents were observed during the study. The patients ECG remained in NSR with no observed ectopy and an average rate

When researching prosthetics, one of the fields I was rather interested in exploring was the