By Jamie C.
Now more than ever, you might see a tattooed, rugged man missing his forearm on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. Or in a commercial, a female athlete running on a prosthetic leg. My grandmother, an amputee herself, jokes that limb loss has come into vogue.
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of limb loss is one rarely spoken about outside of a medical journal or the home of an amputee. My grandmother, like many others, feels pain where it cannot exist.
Phantom limb is a physical phenomenon where sensation, such as pain, tingling, or warmth, is felt in a removed limb. Phantom pain can seemingly be traced to an exact region on the lost limb, not merely in leftover nerve endings placed back into the body. Some individuals feel themselves moving long-gone fingers and toes, even feeling as if their limb has been placed awkwardly. For those suffering from phantom limb, the pain is real. For us all, phantom limb brings forward as of yet unresolved questions about the nature of pain, such as: how can one treat pain that has no source? Is one pain more real than another?
© 2016 Jamie C. All rights reserved.
Now more than ever, you might see a tattooed, rugged man missing his forearm on the cover of Men’s Health magazine. Or in a commercial, a female athlete running on a prosthetic leg. My grandmother, an amputee herself, jokes that limb loss has come into vogue.
But perhaps the most remarkable aspect of limb loss is one rarely spoken about outside of a medical journal or the home of an amputee. My grandmother, like many others, feels pain where it cannot exist.
Phantom limb is a physical phenomenon where sensation, such as pain, tingling, or warmth, is felt in a removed limb. Phantom pain can seemingly be traced to an exact region on the lost limb, not merely in leftover nerve endings placed back into the body. Some individuals feel themselves moving long-gone fingers and toes, even feeling as if their limb has been placed awkwardly. For those suffering from phantom limb, the pain is real. For us all, phantom limb brings forward as of yet unresolved questions about the nature of pain, such as: how can one treat pain that has no source? Is one pain more real than another?
© 2016 Jamie C. All rights reserved.