CRPS-RSD A Better Life recently posted a link to a discussion of mirror therapy by Dr. Eric Altschuler of UMDNJ. I recently spoke with Dr. Altschuler, who is researching mirror therapy for pain disorders, including RSD, stroke rehabilitation, and other conditions.
As I’ve said before, I think these types of approaches are one of the most promising approaches out there for pain disorders. Enjoy!
The deadline for your April Pain-Blog Carnival submission is 4/25. This week’s Grand Rounds is great – posted at Dr. Val and the Voice of Reason.
2 responses so far ↓
Kari // Apr 29, 2008 at 1:26 pm
My daughter’s RSD started after an ankle sprain in a soccer game last fall. Nothing would touch it until I learned that mirror therapy can be effective for phantom limb pain, a sister of RSD/CRPS. We tried it. It successfully “tricked” her brain into “seeing” her completely disabled foot as a working foot. After one session (and an evening of watching funny movies), she went from terrible pain and no blood circulation to “that’s ticklish” when it was time for PT. We’ve used mirror therapy twice since then when she’s had recurrences.
Don’t be fooled by her quick recovery — her brain is young and plastic, and she’d only had the syndrome for 4-6 weeks. Studies describe using this therapy for weeks before getting results. But hey — it’s free, easy to do, and low-risk!
For more info, search on “mirror therapy” on the net. For studies and case descriptions, search on Medline: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed/medline.html.
Here’s a quick “how-to” mirror therapy example:
For a foot, sit with a mirror between the “good” and “bad” feet. The mirror needs to be big enough that you can look down and see a full reflection of the “good” foot and lower leg. The “bad” foot is fully hidden behind the mirror. We picked one up at a thrift store that was tall enough that it could lean against her knee on her “bad” side.
Move the “good” foot. Keep it moving. Watch it intently as it moves. Do this for several minutes at a time. Meanwhile, the “bad” foot moves with it. (In pain-free people, keeping the hidden limb still while moving the reflected limb has been shown to confuse the brain and cause tingling and pain. So make every effort to move it.) In my daughter’s case, she couldn’t move the “bad” foot, so we had her picture it moving in her mind.
How to Cope with Pain // Apr 29, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Great news. Thanks for the “how to.”
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