Phantom Pain Syndrome Research Paper

When a body part is lost the corresponding part of the brain is not able to handle the loss and rewires its circuitry to make up for the signals it was no longer receiving from the missing digit. The rewiring might occur in one of two ways. Perhaps nerve impulses in the sensory cortex begin to course down previously untraveled pathways. The second theory is that neighboring neurons in the cortex may actually invade the territory left fallow because sensations are no longer received from the missing limb.

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.

Both the A-delta fibers and C fibers are responsible for causing the woman phantom limb pain. She has suffered a severe mechanical deformation of amputation below the knee and the C fiber transmission of the dull, aching sensation to her amputated stump. For some patients, phantom limb pain gets better as time goes by. However, some patient may require treatments to manage the pain (McCance & Huether,

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.

Most of the readings discussed various surveys and the prevalence of phantom limb pain in amputees; the sky-high rates astounded me, especially being that I had not heard of this occurrence until this class. Then again, I am quite unfamiliar with the hardships amputees go through. The authors of Phantom Limb Pain, Steven R Hanling and Ralph E Tuttle shared information gathered from a 2009 survey stating 74.5% of amputees reported phantom limb pain, while only 45.2% reported stump pain. These figures surprised me—I thought a larger percentage would feel stump pain

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

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

Phantom Limb Pain (PLP) is a serious condition that occurs when a person who has lost a part of their body though amputation, trauma (brachial plexus), or loss of nervous connections in an appendage, perceives that the limb is still there and experiences sensations coming from this area. It was first described in 1866 by S. Weir Mitchell, an American neurologist, through a short story published in Atlantic Monthly. While Mitchell may then have wondered if this was specific to wounded Civil War soldiers, it has since been established as quite common (1). Over 70% of amputees report phantom limb pain for years after amputation (2). Several theories have been proposed regarding PLP, although there is still much to be

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 earliest hypothesis regarding the cause of phantom limbs and pain was that of neuromas. These were thought to be nodules comprised of remaining nerves located at the end of the stump. These neuromas presumably continued to generate impulses that traveled up the spinal cord to portions of the thalamus and somatosensory domains of the cortex. As a result, treatment involved cutting the nerves just above the neuroma in an attempt to interrupt signaling at each somatosensory level (5). This and other related theories were deemed unsatisfactory because of the fact the phantom pain always returned, indicating that there was a more complex reason.

Part one of Oliver Sack’ book, “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat”, is about losses. The impairment or incapacity of neurological function of those who have loss or lack some of the functions of their brain. Neurological impairments that categorize with loss of functions are loss of vision, speech, language, memory, dexterity, and identity. Some of the diseases or dysfunctions that classify these impairments are Aphonia, Aphemia, Aphasia, Alexia, Apraxia, Agnosia, amnesia, and Ataxia (Sacks 3). It was Paul Broca in 1861 who began the study of the relationship between the brain and mind when a patient case had damaged to the left hemisphere of the brain resulting in aphasia, loss of speech. It was due to this to which it paved the way

Sacks discussed the ideas behind the phantom limb and how they affected many peoples live. The most interesting story was about a sailor that accidentally cut off his index finger. For forty years he thought he would poke himself in the eye whenever he moved his hand to his face. One day he lost the feeling in his entire hand including his phantom finger and his problem was cured (Sacks 66-67). Up to 70 percent of amputees confirmed that they still feel or still thought a missing limb was there. They often feel that they can reach out and grab something. Some won't sleep in a certain way because they feel the missing limb between them and the mattress. The sensations felt stem from the activity of the sensory axons

An extensive matrix of neurons in the brain gives us the sense of our own bodies and body parts. Pain results when this matrix produces an abnormal pattern of activity, as a result of memories, emotions, expectations or signals from various brain centres and not just from signals from peripheral nerves. Because of the lack of sensory stimulation or a person’s efforts to move a nonexistent limb, abnormal patterns may arise, resulting in phantom pain.

Phantom limb pain is a painful sensation experienced in a body part which is no longer part of the body, often due to amputation.(3) Individuals also reported that tingling as well as various types of pain have occurred, and these sensations may eventually disappear or may persist as cramping, shooting, burning or crushing

been by a paralyzed inability to except the painful sense of loss (Jamil, 2009). The pretense of