Pixels ease amputees' pain
November 2006Researchers in the Schools of Psychological Sciences and Computer Science are using 3D computer graphics to combat the pain suffered by amputees; by developing a virtual reality system which gives the illusion a person's amputated limb is still there.
By putting on a head-set patients enter a life-sized virtual world, where they see themselves with two limbs. They can then control the movements of their purely computer-generated limb using their remaining physical one.
Project leader Dr Craig Murray of the School of Psychological Sciences said: “Many people who undergo an amputation go on to experience a ‘phantom limb,’ which is often very painful. Symptoms can persist for many years, and are very difficult to treat.
“However, research has found that when a person's brain is tricked into believing they can see and move the phantom limb, pain can decrease.”
Five patients have already tried out the virtual reality system in a small trial, including one who has suffered from phantom limb pain for 40 years. Each used it for around 30 minutes between seven and ten times, over a two to three month period.
Four of the five volunteers reported improvement in their pain; some almost immediately.
“One patient had felt that the fingers of her amputated hand were continually clenched into her palm, which was very painful for her,” Craig continued. “However, after just one session using our virtual system she began to feel movement in her fingers and the pain began to ease.”
The team's findings were recently presented at a major conference in Denmark on the use of virtual reality for rehabilitation. They hope to include a larger number of patients in a further trial to identify those most likely to benefit from the system. The University of Manchester is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
