Phantom Limb Pain

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2.1 Literature Review War trauma. Soldiers that are sent for missions are exposed to physical and psychological wounds, particularly to war trauma. (Boserelle,& Cupa, 2011). Land mines, exploding shells and direct bullet injury are just some causes of war–related amputations on foot and ankle among respondents in a study by Ebrahimzadeh & Rajabi in 2007. As more and more U.S. veterans come from Iraq and Afghanistan with a missing limb, much attention is given to a bewildering phenomenon that young soldiers feel an agonizing pain in a body part that no longer exists. (Bierma & Woolston, 2015). 1. Phantom Limb Pain Phantom Limb Pain (PLP) is defined as a painful phenomenon at the site amputation (Fieldsen & Wood, 2011) on the area of the …show more content…

This may help explain why patients experience PLP. Nurses have an important role in managing pain control because they have more contact with patients who are experiencing pain than any other healthcare professionals. (Fieldsen & Wood, 2011). Several theories emerge to the pathophysiology of phantom limb pain, including cortical reorganization or neuroplasticity (Virani et al, 2014; Hunter, Katz & Davis, 2008; Anwar, 2013; Hill, 1999), Proprioceptive memory theory (Virani et al, 2014), and peripheral theories. (Virani et al, 2014; Anwar, 2013). In cortical reorganization or neuroplasticity, signals that are sent to the somatosensory cortex of the brain from the previous pathway of the missing limb are replaced with new signals from an assigned area adjacent to the genetically assigned area (Virani et al, 2014). Extent of cortical reorganization is related to the degree of pain. Greater somatosensory extent involvement is associated with more intense phantom limb pain experience. (Anwar, 2013). In proprioceptive memory theory, pre-amputation pain memories are retained. (Virani et al, …show more content…

Fifteen studies were used to be identified and reviewed. Two studies involved mirror therapy after amputation of the upper limb, five were focused on mirror therapy after stroke, five on mirror therapy with complex regional pain syndrome 1, one on mirror therapy with complex regional pain syndrome 2, and 2 on mirror therapy after hand surgery than amputation. The review showed that mirror therapy was most effective in upper limb treatments of patients who had stroke and CRPS. ( Ezendam et al.,

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