RESUMO
The Revolutionizing Prosthetics 2009 program conducted by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has resulted in a Virtual Integration Environment (VIE) that provides a common development platform for researchers and clinicians that design, model and build prosthetic limbs and then integrate and test them with patients. One clinical need that arose during the VIE development was a feature to easily create and model animations that represent patient activities of daily living (ADLs) and simultaneously capture real-time surface EMG activity from the residual limb corresponding to the ADLs. An application of this feature is being made by the Walter Reed Military Amputee Research Program (MARP) where they are utilizing the VIE to investigate methods of reducing upper extremity amputee phantom limb pain (PLP).
Assuntos
Biorretroalimentação Psicológica/métodos , Diagnóstico por Computador/métodos , Modelos Biológicos , Membro Fantasma/diagnóstico , Membro Fantasma/reabilitação , Terapia Assistida por Computador/métodos , Interface Usuário-Computador , Simulação por Computador , Humanos , Membro Fantasma/fisiopatologia , Integração de SistemasRESUMO
Phantom limb phenomena are well characterized, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Here we report a patient who relieves his phantom sensations and pain, experienced as itching and cramping, through scratching or massaging his prosthesis or the leg of another person. This pain relief occurs only when phantom limb sensations are present. We hypothesize that symptom relief results from incorporation of the foreign limb into the patient's body image, mediated by the sensory mirror neuron system, relieving pain by restoring concordance between sensory systems.