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VR Cures Amputees' Phantom Limb Pain
An anonymous reader writes, "Scientists have developed a virtual world like Second Life where real-life amputees have their limbs restored. The experience can cure patients of the perception of pain in their missing limbs. From the article: 'The machine is designed to combat phantom limb pain (PLP) — a sensation of pain experienced by an amputee that appears to originate in the missing limb. Intriguingly, researchers have discovered that if a person's brain can be tricked into believing they can see and move a "phantom limb," this motion reduces the perception of pain in PLP.' The graphics used by the computer look very crude, almost comically so, but apparently the system works."
This is good news for anyone that suffers from phantom limb pain.
Who ordered that?
I seem to recall a successful experiment in which a set of mirrors were setup in certain angles in a tabletop apparatus. Hand/Arm amputees would position their remaining limb on the table beside this apparatus. What they would see when looking at the table in front of them would be a mirror representation of their remaining limb. The amputees would then rate their phantom limb pain levels and results showed that the mirrored image of their existing appendage greatly reduced the pain. I see this research as an extension of this. If the brain is fooled into believing that the missing limb is actually there, then too the brain, the limb just might be there. Perception is reality in these instance.