Karin experienced tremendous agony in her hand that vanished after she lost her forearm in an accident. Medication didn't work, but with the use of brain-tricking technology, the agony is now occasionally reduced. She claims that the 100-mile journey is well worth it.

Karin lost her right arm from the elbow down in the summer of 2023. An amputation resulted from an accident at her previous job. She was allowed to return home after two weeks in the hospital because the wound had healed nicely. However, the agony persisted.

My fingers feel constricted and drawn in, and I've had a burning and stabbing feeling in my hand ever since," she says.

It's not uncommon to feel phantom pain in an amputated body component. About 80% of people who have had their limbs amputated are thought to be impacted. particularly if an accident results in the amputation. The explanation is that the nerves are still there even though the physical portion is gone.

Karin has been able to cut back on the amount of potent painkillers she originally took. She is obviously routine, and the process of attaching the electrodes and calibrating the muscle tensions using the arm image proceeds swiftly. I've seen patients who were under stress and unable to concentrate completely; they may have checked their phones throughout the task, and then it stopped working. Cathrine Widehammar, an occupational therapist and researcher at Örebro University Hospital, advises that you must focus entirely on your work. It's unclear exactly what causes phantom pain and what occurs after it goes away. However, scientists think the brain learns in some way.

This kind of brain-tricking was first used in the 1990s. The amputated person then mirrored the healthy side while moving in front of a standard mirror. As a result, it appears as though both sides are moving. Although the technique was groundbreaking at the time, it was not as successful as the more recent advancements in virtual reality. The treatment has been developed at Örebro University Hospital, and some patients have tested the system at home. To get decent results, some people utilize electrodes, while others just need a screen that shows an image of the missing body part moving in a certain way.

One patient had been experiencing phantom pain for thirty years, and no prior therapy had been able to alleviate it. His pain started to lessen after the second session and kept getting better each time. Cathrine Widehammar says it's great. The quality of life of patients is positively impacted by the treatment, according to a recent study. Kajsa Lidström-Holmqvist has conducted interviews with patients who have received treatment using the novel approach to learn more about the impact on their day-to-day lives. The treatment had a significant impact on the happiness and quality of life of individuals who experienced its effects. When you are in pain, you lose your will to live. Most people cut back on enjoyable activities because they can't handle what they