Phantom limb pain treated with therapeutic touch: a case report.

Abstract

Phantom limb pain is a widespread condition that responds poorly to conventional medical and surgical treatments. A case report is presented of the successful treatment of phantom leg pain in a 62-year-old man with peripheral vascular disease using the complementary medical technique of Therapeutic Touch. The clinical and research literature of Therapeutic Touch is briefly reviewed, with regard to subjective outcome measures like pain and anxiety, as well as to several objective measures of physiologic function. The possible role of nonspecific factors like placebo responsiveness or hypnotic dissociation in this case are considered, as are the applicability of complementary and alternative medicine to phantom limb pain, the neurologic mechanisms that generate phantom sensations, and the possible mechanism of action of Therapeutic Touch.