March 21, 2008
Virtual Massage for Phantom Limb Pain
Vilayanur Ramachandran conducted a series of experiments to see why people feel pain in amputated limbs and how it could be relieved.
To test his theory, Ramachandran and colleagues created a “mirror box” that gave amputees the visual impression of seeing their missing limb.
Two amputee volunteers, watching as their intact hand was touched, both felt as if their missing hand was “being prodded.” And when they saw a third person’s hand stroked, they too began to feel a similar sensation in their absent limb.
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[...] Jacki Donaldson wrote an interesting post today onHere’s a quick excerptVilayanur Ramachandran conducted a series of experiments to see why people feel pain in amputated limbs and how it could be relieved. To test his theory, Ramachandran and colleagues created a “mirror box” that gave amputees the visual … [...]