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DESCRIPTION:
Phantom pain overview: Phantom pain, limb pain, stump pain and phantom limb sensation describe what individuals who have lost all or part of a limb experience. Phantom limb pain is pain that feels like it's occurring in the amputated limb. Stump pain is discomfort at the surgery site. Phantom limb sensation is the feeling that the missing body part is still there. Doctors originally believed that phantom pain affects only those who have had a limb amputated. However, some individuals born without a limb may also experience phantom pain, although phantom limb sensation is more common among people who have had a limb surgically removed than among those born without a limb. Phantom pain can also be felt in an area of the body where there is no feeling as a result of a stroke or paralysis.
How does phantom pain develop? Researchers have suggested several theories to explain phantom pain. Before advanced diagnostic tests existed, many doctors thought phantom pain was a psychological, rather than a physical problem. Subsequent research found that psychological distress is not the sole cause of phantom pain and it may not be involved at all. One theory revolves around pre-amputation pain, and suggests that people who had pain in a limb before amputation took place are likely to experience phantom pain afterward. Another theory involves blood clots: Individuals who had an amputation because of a blood clot in the limb report phantom pain and discomfort both before and after rehabilitation more often than people who had an amputation for other reasons. Intermittent pain prior to amputation that may not necessarily have been experienced immediately before an amputation may also influence the incidence of phantom pain. The experience of pain related to gangrene or other infections prior to the amputation is also more likely to result in phantom pain after surgery.
What are the symptoms of phantom pain? Symptoms include pain, discomfort, cramping or any other sensation in a limb that doesn't exist. Some individuals find that specific conditions or circumstances, such as weather, exercise, nerves or fatigue, may trigger phantom pain. It usually begins within a few days after surgery, and while some people find that phantom pain decreases with time, others experience it for many years. Phantom pain that has gone untreated for more than a year tends to be more difficult to resolve.
Conventional medical treatments may help relieve the symptoms of phantom pain, but they do not address the root of the problem. By strengthening structural weaknesses in the body, as natural medicine treatments like Prolotherapy do, phantom pain may be alleviated permanently.
Discover why we believe that natural medicine treatments are the best way to treat phantom pain.
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