Phantom Limb Pain
Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a complex phenomenon that includes a wide variety of symptoms ranging from tingling and itching to burning and aching. During the past twenty years researchers have advanced a number of theories to explain phantom limb pain. Three of the most prominent are: 1) maladaptive changes in the primary sensory cortex after amputation (maladaptive plasticity), 2) a conflict between the signals received from the amputated limb (proprioception) and the information provided by vision that serves to send motor commands to the missing limb, 3) vivid limb position memories that emerge after amputation.
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Famous quotes containing the words phantom, limb and/or pain:
“Art has a double face, of expression and illusion, just like science has a double face: the reality of error and the phantom of truth.”
—René Daumal (1908–1944)
“You really were a panther, a wild-cat,
who tore me limb from limb;
my thanks for that.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself, I always stumble on some particular perception or other, of heat or cold, light or shade, love or hatred, pain or pleasure. I never can catch myself at any time without a perception, and never can observe anything but the perception.”
—David Hume (1711–1776)