Medical Conditions Treated with Prism Glasses
Mirror Therapy in Phantom Limb Pain
This article, presented at the American Neurological Association in 2007, showed in randomised trials that 100% of people using mirror therapy had reduced pain episodes.
Phantom Limb Pain can be excruciating and pain drugs often do little to help. But some studies have suggested that using a mirror to trick the mind into thinking the lost limb is still there may help. Doctors do not understand why it works, but it appears to help a confused brain reconcile sensations coming from the severed nerves. Dr Jack Tsao, a Navy neurologist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, asked 22 volunteers, most of whom had lost part of a leg in Iraq, to try one of three therapies.
Dr. Borigini concludes the article by stating "It appears that mirror therapy is a novel and safe therapy for the often perplexing problem of phantom limb pain.
The mind is a powerful healer in many situations, but sometimes it needs a little help."
http://www.healthcentral.com/chronic-pain/c/91/16259/limb-pain/
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Mirror_fools_phantom_limb_pain/articleshow/2563127.cms
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=88097
Mirrored, imagined and executed movements differentially activate sensorimotor cortex in amputees with and without phantom limb pain.
Diers M, Christmann C, Koeppe C, Ruf M, Flor H.
Department of Clinical and Cognitive Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Heidelberg, D-68159 Mannheim, Germany. martin.diers@zi-mannheim.de
2010 May;149(2):296-304. Epub 2010 Mar 31
This recent article by Diers utilised the prism glasses in an fMRI study.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20359825
Mirror Therapy for phantom limb pain
The New England Journal of Medicine (2007) 357; 2206-2207
Our findings showed that mirror therapy reduced phantom limb pain in patients who had undergone amputation of lower limbs. Such pain was not reduced by either covered-mirror or mental-visualization treatment. Pain relief associated with mirror therapy may be due to the activation of mirror neurons in the hemisphere of the brain that is contralateral to the amputated limb. These neurons fire when a person either performs an action or observes another person performing an action.4 Alternatively, visual input of what appears to be movement of the amputated limb might reduce the activity of systems that perceive protopathic pain.5 Although the underlying mechanism accounting for the success of this therapy remains to be elucidated, these results suggest that mirror therapy may be helpful in alleviating phantom pain in an amputated lower limb.
http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/357/21/2206
Self-delivered home-based mirror therapy for lower limb phantom pain
The following article describes how mirror therapy is proving to be an effective method of alleviating PLP. The Prism Glasses have been specifically designed to make mirror therapy easy to use whilst being very portable i.e. perfect for home use.
Darnall BD
Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon 97239, USA.
2009 Jan;88(1):78-81.
Abstract
Home-based patient-delivered mirror therapy is a promising approach in the treatment of phantom limb pain. Previous studies and case reports of mirror therapy have used a therapist-guided, structured protocol of exercises. No case report has described treatment for either upper or lower limb phantom pain by using home-based patient-delivered mirror therapy. The success of this case demonstrates that home-based patient-delivered mirror therapy may be an efficacious, low-cost treatment option that would eliminate many traditional barriers to care.
UK Patent No 2452204B