Phantom Limb Pain
Phantom limb pain is experienced in around 60% of people who have lost a limb. In 20% of those it can be severe, affecting sleep, work and social life, as well as being a tiring and debilitating experience. It is in many cases an intractable chronic pain; even modern drugs cannot remove it, or reduce it without possible side effects.
Dr Jonathan Cole and his team have been researching ways to help amputees ‘feel’ their missing limb by using cutting edge technology to allow them to move a computer simulation of their arm.
The ability to ‘feel’ the limb appears to be associated with reduced susceptibility to phantom pain. The research began with a Wellcome Trust Showcase Award in 2003, and is now carried out in conjunction with the Centre of Postgraduate Medical Research and Education (CoPMRE) at BU.
The team has developed a system that uses motion capture technology to enable the patient to drive the movement of their ‘missing’ limb, shown on a computer screen or head mounted display. They are then able to move their stump and have that movement translated to the limb represented by the computer program.
Two thirds of people with phantom arm pain were able to learn to move the virtual arm so that it could pick up an apple on screen,and Dr Cole and his team are looking to produce similar results in people with phantom leg pain.
They are working with patients who are referred from colleagues in Poole and Christchurch, and are collaborating with Dr David Henderson Slater in the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford to progress further research into phantom leg pain.
Using expertise from three of the academic Schools at BU, this research is an outstanding example of cross-departmental collaboration. It encourages the research teams in the CoPMRE to challenge conventional thinking and explore new ways of improving patients’ quality of life and choice. The project involves not only clinicians but also software engineers since the key is accurate translation of motion captured from the patient’s stump, which is used to present them with a virtual limb they move themselves. As patients move the limb in virtual space, so they feel it become theirs and pain is reduced. The research has given patients the opportunity to discover the virtual potential of their amputated limb.
The solution required computing skills and an understanding of motion capture, so thanks to colleagues in The Media School and to Greg Austwick and Simon Crowle in The School of Design, Engineering & Computing, a system has been designed that would not have been possible by any one School working in isolation.
Other research groups are using virtual reality to drive movement of the missing limb from movement of the remaining one. However Dr Cole’s group is pioneering use of the remaining limb remnant to produce re-embodiment in this way. Given the impressive progress Dr Cole and his team have made with their research, they plan to continue to develop the program until they can reach a stage to quantify the tangible benefits to the patients.
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