Killing pain - with mirrors?

Just goes to show you how little we know about the brain.

Dr. Jack Tsao, a Navy neurologist with the Uniform Services University, was looking for ways to help soldiers like Paupore (who lost a leg in Iraq). He remembered reading in graduate school a paper by Dr. V.S. Ramachandran that talked about an unusual treatment for amputees suffering "phantom limb pain," using a simple $20 mirror.

The mirror tricks the brain into "seeing" the amputated leg, overriding mismatched nerve signals.

Here's how it works: The patient sits on a flat surface with his or her remaining leg straight out and then puts a 6-foot mirror lengthwise facing the limb. The patient moves the leg, flexing it, and watches the movement in the mirror. The reflection creates the illusion of two legs moving together.

The brain thinks that it is actually moving both legs, and seeing 'success' from the mirror, interprets the leg as existing.  But, it isn't getting any pain information from the leg, so everything must be OK and the phantom pain goes away.  That is just crazy.

It seems like every time we think we are getting a handle on what goes on in the brain something like this pops up.  It strains the imagination to think about what we will learn over the coming decades.

Posted by: jcallery at 02:49 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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