Mirror Mind

Kal Cobalt

Phantom limb pain consistently baffles the medical community. Theories abound as to its cause, but they are only conjecture, and no consistently effective treatment exists -- until now. Clinical trials of "mirror therapy" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center have yielded surprising and welcome results.

Mirror therapy consists of positioning a mirror in such a way that the intact limb is reflected in the position of the amputated limb. Patients flex and stretch the intact limb while looking in the mirror, creating an illusion for the mind that both limbs are present.

After one month of mirror therapy, all patients in the clinical trial reported "significantly less" phantom pain. Half the patients performing the same routine with the mirror covered experienced an increase in pain, and those who only visualized the treatment experienced a 67% rate of decreased pain. When these patients were switched to mirror therapy, 90% experienced decreased pain.

A similar study on mirror massage seems to corroborate the results of this study.

The prevailing theory on phantom pain's origin is that the brain's ability to tell where a limb is located, which does not alter after amputation, is in conflict with the visual input of the missing limb. This conflict causes neurons to misfire, which sometimes results in a perception of pain. By bringing the visual input in alignment with the body's proprioception in mirror therapy, the brain is tricked into thinking both limbs remain present. Misfiring lessens, and pain decreases.

Image by CaseyLessard under Creative Commons license.