Tilak Merlyn, Isaac Serin Anna, Fletcher Jebaraj, Vasanthan Lenny Thinagaran, Subbaiah Rajalakshmi Sankaran, Babu Andrew, Bhide Rohit, Tharion George
Christian Medical College, Vellore, 632002, India.
Physiother Res Int. 2016 Jun;21(2):109-15. doi: 10.1002/pri.1626. Epub 2015 Apr 1.
Phantom limb pain (PLP) can be disabling for nearly two thirds of amputees. Hence, there is a need to find an effective and inexpensive treatment that can be self administered. Among the non-pharmacological treatment for PLP, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) applied to the contralateral extremity and mirror therapy are two promising options. However, there are no studies to compare the two treatments. The purpose of this study is to evaluate and compare mirror therapy and TENS in the management of PLP in subjects with amputation.
The study was an assessor blinded randomized controlled trial conducted at Physiotherapy Gymnasium of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department, Christian Medical College, Vellore. Twenty-six subjects with PLP consented to participate. An initial assessment of pain using visual analogue scale (VAS) and universal pain score (UPS) was performed by a therapist blinded to the treatment given. Random allocation into Group I-mirror therapy and Group II-TENS was carried out. After 4 days of treatment, pain was re-assessed by the same therapist. The mean difference in Pre and Post values were compared among the groups. The change in pre-post score was analyzed using the paired t test.
Participants of Group I had significant decrease in pain [VAS ( p = 0.003) and UPS ( p = 0.001)]. Group II also showed a significant reduction in pain [VAS ( p = 0.003) and UPS ( p = 0.002)]. However, no difference was observed between the two groups [VAS ( p = 0.223 and UPS ( p = 0.956)].
Both Mirror Therapy and TENS were found to be effective in pain reduction on a short-term basis. However, no difference between the two groups was found. Substantiation with long-term follow-up is essential to find its long-term effectiveness. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
幻肢痛（PLP）会使近三分之二的截肢者致残。因此，需要找到一种有效且廉价的可自行实施的治疗方法。在PLP的非药物治疗中，应用于对侧肢体的经皮电刺激神经疗法（TENS）和镜像疗法是两种有前景的选择。然而，尚无研究对这两种治疗方法进行比较。本研究的目的是评估和比较镜像疗法与TENS对截肢患者PLP的治疗效果。
本研究是一项在韦洛尔基督教医学院物理医学与康复科理疗健身房进行的评估者盲法随机对照试验。26名患有PLP的受试者同意参与。由对所给予治疗不知情的治疗师使用视觉模拟量表（VAS）和通用疼痛评分（UPS）对疼痛进行初始评估。随机分为第一组——镜像疗法组和第二组——TENS组。治疗4天后，由同一名治疗师对疼痛进行重新评估。比较两组治疗前后值的平均差异。使用配对t检验分析前后评分的变化。
第一组参与者疼痛显著减轻[VAS（p = 0.003）和UPS（p = 0.001）]。第二组疼痛也显著减轻[VAS（p = 0.003）和UPS（p = 0.002）]。然而，两组之间未观察到差异[VAS（p = 0.223）和UPS（p = 0.956）]。
发现镜像疗法和TENS在短期内均能有效减轻疼痛。然而，两组之间未发现差异。进行长期随访以证实其长期疗效至关重要。版权所有© 2015约翰威立国际出版公司。
