It is widely believed that people who are congenitally limb-deficient or suffer a limb amputation at an early age do not experience phantom limbs. The present study reports on a sample of 125 people with missing limbs and documents phantom experiences in 41 individuals who were either born limb-deficient (n = 15) or underwent amputation before the age of 6 years (n = 26). These cases provide evidence that phantom limbs are experienced by at least 20% of congenitally limb-deficient subjects and by 50% of subjects who underwent amputations before the age of 6 years. The phantoms are detailed and can be described in terms of size, shape, position, movement and temporal properties. The perceptual qualities of the phantoms can also be described by sensory descriptors and are reported as painful by 20% of subjects with phantoms in the congenital limb deficient group and 42% of young amputees. It is argued that these phantom experiences provide evidence of a distributed neural representation of the body that is in part genetically determined.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether women in labor report less pain when they are in a vertical (sitting or standing) position than in a horizontal (side-lying or supine) position. Pain scores were obtained from 60 women in early labor (dilation 2-5 cm) who alternated between the two positions. The results show that about 35% of women feel less front pain and 50% feel less back pain when they are in a vertical position than in a horizontal position. The decrease in continuous back pain (83%) was particularly impressive, but the front and back pains associated with contractions were significantly diminished as well. These results, taken together with those of earlier studies, indicate that many women in early labor have less pain and are generally more comfortable in a vertical than in a horizontal position. Since early labor comprises a substantial proportion of the entire process of labor and delivery, any simple procedure which alleviates pain without danger to mother or child, such as shifting from a horizontal to a vertical position, should be promoted and employed.
In order to assess the relative effectiveness of finger warming and temporal blood volume pulse reduction biofeedback in the treatment of migraine, 22 female migraine patients were assigned to one of three experimental conditions: temporal artery constriction feedback, finger temperature feedback, or waiting list. Biofeedback training consisted of 12 sessions over a 6-week period. All patients completed 5 weeks of daily self-monitoring of headache activity (frequency, duration, and intensity) and medication before and after treatment. Treatment credibility was assessed at the end of Sessions 1, 6, and 12. Results showed that temporal constriction and finger temperature biofeedback were equally effective in controlling migraine headaches and produced greater benefits than the waiting list condition. Power analyses indicated that very large sample sizes would have been required to detect any significant differences between the two treatment groups. No significant relationships were found between levels of therapeutic gains and levels of thermal or blood volume pulse self-regulation skills. Likewise, treatment outcome was not found to be related to treatment credibility. Further analyses revealed that changes in headache activity and medication were associated with changes in vasomotor variability. Because blood volume pulse variability was not significantly affected by biofeedback training, questions about its role in the therapeutic mechanism are raised.
This case report describes multiple phantom feet in a child after amputation of a leg. The subject is a 16-year-old girl who was born with a right leg 10 cm shorter than the left and who at the age of 6 was amputated below the right knee so that she could wear a prosthesis that would give her normal mobility. The girl reports that she subsequently experienced 2 phantom feet and 3 sets of phantom toes which have persisted to the present time. Each phantom has a distinct size, length and position in relation to the others and each is also the site of vivid sensations such as heat, tickle, and fatigue as well as voluntary and involuntary movement. She also describes sensations that resemble sensations experienced before the amputation: one of her phantom feet feels flat and locked into a forward position which corresponds with the actual shape and position of her congenitally deformed amputated foot. The implications of multiple phantoms are discussed with reference to recent concepts of phantom limbs.
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