Phantom limbs

Phantom Limbs 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

Phantom Limbs, Phantom Pain, And The "I-Function" 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

Discussion of Research Topic: For this final paper I will be writing about phantom limb. Phantom limb is the sensation or pain which a person feels after he/she has an amputated or missing limb. They feel that their limb is still attached to the body. Majority of the sensation feel by these people are painful. They often experience burning, crushing, stabbing, itching, or cramping sensation where the amputated limb used to be. Brain is a very complex organ. Brain maps out the body so it receives

Describing Phantom Limb Experience Of people who have had body parts amputated, about 80 percent experience some sort of phantom limb sensation. This experience, which can range from severe shooting pain to merely feeling the presence of the absent limb, most often occurs in amputees but sometimes manifests itself in individuals whose limbs have been missing since birth. The sensations patients experience are not necessarily of the same strength, location, or duration from occurrence to occurrence

Phantom Limbs: A Neurobiological Explanation Severely injuring a digit or limb can result in unrepentant damage and amputation. However, the painful sensations experienced in regard to that limb do not necessarily cease after amputation. The concept of feeling sensations in a limb that is no longer attached to the body is referred to as feeling a "phantom limb." This phenomenon is experienced by approximately 80%-100% of all patients who have lost a limb (1), and has therefore sparked wide interest

Helping 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. After James Peacock had his right arm amputated last December, he

Phantom limb syndrome is an extraordinary condition that is caused by amputating a limb or being born without a limb (Flor, 2002); This condition affects approximately 80% to 90% of patients who have had a limb amputated (Flor, 2002). The first documented case of phantom limb syndrome was in the mid 16th century (Nikolajsen & Jensen, 2001). The description was given by a French military surgeon by the name of Ambroise Paré (1510–1590) when he noticed that some of his injured patients would express

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). Nociceptors are free nerve endings in the afferent peripheral nervous system (PNS) that selectively respond to different stimuli. The differences are related to the stimulus

Sensation & Perception of Phantom Limb Pain Alec S. Johnson Ben Denkinger University of Minnesota 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

In this paper we will be discussing the neurological cases of phantom limbs derived from chapter 6, pages 36 through 39, of the book, The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat by Oliver Sacks. In this chapter, Mr.Sacks discusses the cases of phantom limbs as well as the phenomenon that occur with it. A phantom is a term that neurologist uses to describe an image or memory of a limb that is no longer present. The term Phantom was described in great detail by neurologist Silas Weir Mitchell in 1872 during