Mirror feed-back - a new method for the treatment of neuropathic pain

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Dtsch Med Wochenschr. 2007 Oct;132(41):2159-62.

Mirror feed-back - a new method for the treatment of neuropathic pain

Schwarzer A, Glaudo S, Zenz M, Maier C.

Abteilung für Schmerztherapie, Klinik für Anaesthesiologie, Intensiv-

, Palliativ- und Schmerzmedizin, Berufsgenossenschaftliches

Universitätsklinikum Bergmannsheil Bochum, Bochum.

The mirror feedback therapy is a method for treatment of neuropathic

pain syndromes that are associated with a missing or disordered

afferent sensory input. That concerns especially the phantom limb

pain, the pain after plexus or spinal nerve root injury and the

complex regional pain syndrome. This therapeutic method has been

increasingly implemented in the past few years. Its theoretical

background rest upon recent pain research findings that refer to

changes in the cortical organization and the influence of sensory

and motor training effects on the pain experience. During the

therapy the patients are instructed to use the mirror in a way that

the image of the mirrored healthy limb seems to appear in the place

of the missing or affected extremity. The mirror image produces an

illusion of two " healthy " limbs. An ergotherapeutic training program

with sensory and motor training elements based on the visual

impressions is performed additionally.