Use of cognitive behavioural therapy to reduce phantom limb pain in amputee patients

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Created On: 20/05/2023

The purpose of a systematic review was to determine whether cognitive behavioural therapy was effective in helping amputee patients with phantom limb pain.

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Key take away

For amputee patients, mirror therapy is the most beneficial cognitive behavioural therapy for alleviating phantom limb pain.

Background

The purpose of a systematic review was to determine whether cognitive behavioural therapy was effective in helping amputee patients with phantom limb pain.

Method

For a relevant literature search, 7 electronic databases (i.e., Google Scholar, SciELO, PEDro, ClinicalKey, Cochrane Library, PubMed Central, and PubMed) were explored. All studies provided data on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioural treatment in alleviating phantom limb pain in amputee patients.

Result

Following the elimination of the duplicates, 127 articles out of the 258 remained. After reviewing their titles and abstracts, 68 studies were included. Following full-text review, another 32 studies were eliminated. Overall, 39 articles that satisfied the intended inclusion parameters were chosen for this research. Further analysis resulted in the inclusion of 7 articles that satisfied the requirements, and the exclusion of 32 articles. Among the different cognitive behavioural therapy methods, mirror therapy was the most successful intervention in decreasing phantom limb pain.

Conclusion

In order to lessen phantom limb pain, cognitive behavioural therapy such as mirror therapy, virtual reality therapy, and other kinds of intervention may be used. These include mental imagery methods, tactile treatment, transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation, and phantom limb exercises. However, when compared to other treatment methods, mirror therapy was the most beneficial strategy.