McLachlan (Phantom limb pain case study)

• A case study conducted using a 32 year old man.
• He had life-saving surgery where they had to amputate his leg from the hip.
• After the surgery he had been unwell for many weeks and only two days after becoming conscious of his amputation, the phantom limb pain started.
• The PLP started in the morning and progressively got worse during the day.
• He reported feeling:

  • Like his leg was stretching backward.
  • His toes were crossed.
  • One leg was shorter than the other.
• He had tried everything to alleviate the pain even TENS, but nothing worked.
• TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation.
• Mirror treatment was his last hope.
• During the treatment, he did ten repetitions of ten exercises.
• Some of the exercises included:

  • Pointing his leg up and down.
  • Stretching and bending his leg.
  • Clenching and unclenching the toes.
  • Moving the foot in circles.
• He found some exercises more difficult than others it took four sessions before he felt like he had control over his phantom leg.
• After the second week the feeling of his toes being crossed reduced.
• By the third week there was no sensation of crossed toes and the PLP was minimal.
• Alan's control of his phantom leg (%):

  Before the treatment:

  • PLP: 0-3%

  After the treatment:

  • 25-30%
• Alan's phantom pain ratings (out of 10):

  Before the treatment:

  • PLP = 5-9
  • SP = 0-2

  After the treatment:

  • 0/10
  • 1/10