Phantom Limb News and Research

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Phantom Limb is the sensation of pain or other unpleasant feelings in the place of a missing (phantom) limb.

Bioinspired sensor mimics haptic and pain perception for prosthetics

Lower-limb amputation not only impairs mobility but is also frequently accompanied by phantom limb pain and disrupted haptic and nociceptive perception in the residual limb, which can compromise prosthetic use and rehabilitation.

1 Oct 2026

Breakthrough technology decodes leg movement signals from nerves in amputees

A research team led by researchers at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden, has, for the first time, successfully decoded leg movements directly from the remaining nerves in people with above-knee amputations.

19 Mar 2026

Post amputation pain differs with movement and prosthetic type

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz have identified a critical gap in how post-amputation pain is evaluated and treated.

6 Mar 2026

Botulinum toxin injections could be a powerful tool for treating post-amputation pain

Botulinum toxin injections provided greater short-term relief for phantom limb pain than standard medical and surgical care among Ukrainian war amputees, reports a new study led by Northwestern Medicine and Ukrainian physicians.

21 Oct 2025

Study shows brain keeps internal body map intact after amputation

Researchers tracked brain activity before and after arm amputation and found that hand and lip maps in the cortex remained remarkably stable for up to five years. This challenges decades-old assumptions of large-scale remapping and supports the idea of a resilient internal body model.

24 Aug 2025

Study shows the brain’s body map remains stable after limb loss

New research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Cambridge University upends a long-standing belief about brain plasticity.

21 Aug 2025

Hydrodissection may offer hope for post-amputation pain relief

A reliable method to treat post-amputation pain remains elusive, but a new Northwestern Medicine study conducted in collaboration with Ukrainian physicians suggests that hydrodissection - a simple procedure that injects fluid around nerves - may reduce residual limb pain and opioid dependence.

19 Feb 2025

Breakthrough prosthetic leg achieves natural gait through neural control

State-of-the-art prosthetic limbs can help people with amputations achieve a natural walking gait, but they don't give the user full neural control over the limb.

1 Jul 2024

Amputees regain temperature sensation with new prosthetic technology

Sensory feedback is important for amputees to be able to explore and interact with their environment. Now, researchers have developed a device that allows amputees to sense and respond to temperature by delivering thermal information from the prosthesis' fingertip to the amputee's residual limb.

9 Feb 2024

Early targeted muscle reinnervation cuts chronic pain after amputation

Performed early – at the time of amputation – a procedure called targeted muscle reinnervation (TMR) can reduce pain scores and prevent complications related to abnormal nerve regrowth, suggests a study in the January issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

4 Jan 2024

Spinal cord treatment offers relief and sensation to lower limb amputees

Researchers from the USA used commercially available electrodes for closed-loop spinal cord stimulation in three individuals with transtibial amputation.

18 Dec 2023

Spinal cord stimulation restores sensation and eases phantom pain in amputees

Spinal cord stimulation can elicit sensation in the missing foot and alleviate phantom limb pain in people with lower limb amputations, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine rehabilitation scientists report today.

14 Dec 2023

Image-guided procedure may alleviate parosmia symptoms in long COVID patients

Using an image-guided minimally invasive procedure, researchers may be able to restore the sense of smell in patients who have suffered with long-COVID, according to research being presented next week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

20 Nov 2023

Researchers identify brain signatures for chronic pain in a small group of individuals

For the first time, researchers have recorded pain-related data from inside the brain of individuals with chronic pain disorders caused by stroke or amputation (phantom limb pain).

22 May 2023

Temperature sensation in the phantom hand provides a more realistic touch to amputees

An unexpected discovery about temperature feedback has led to new bionic technology that allows amputees to sense the temperature of objects – both hot and cold – directly in the phantom hand.

18 May 2023

The therapeutic effects and safety of psychedelics

Psychedelics are reported to have rapid-onset and long-lasting therapeutic benefits after a single or few doses.

14 Dec 2022

Partially paralyzed man maneuvers a pair of robotic prostheses to feed himself

Two robotic arms – a fork in one hand, a knife in the other – flank a seated man, who sits in front of a table, with a piece of cake on a plate.

28 Jun 2022

Magnetic beads could offer much more precise control of prosthetic limbs

For people with amputation who have prosthetic limbs, one of the greatest challenges is controlling the prosthesis so that it moves the same way a natural limb would. Most prosthetic limbs are controlled using electromyography, a way of recording electrical activity from the muscles, but this approach provides only limited control of the prosthesis.

19 Aug 2021

$1.3 million grant funds clinical trial to test psilocybin for treating patients with phantom limb pain

The Psychedelics and Health Research Initiative at UC San Diego has received a $1.3 million grant from the Steven & Alexandra Cohen Foundation to fund a clinical trial investigating the therapeutic potential of psilocybin in treating phantom limb pain.

17 Feb 2021

New type of surgery can help amputees better control their residual muscles

MIT researchers have invented a new type of amputation surgery that can help amputees to better control their residual muscles and sense where their "phantom limb" is in space.

15 Feb 2021