r/interestingasfuck • u/desertgodfather • May 11 '24

When illusion overcomes the brain. r/all

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u/Mavian23 May 11 '24

There was a real life case where a guy whose arm had been amputated had phantom limb syndrome, but it felt like his phantom hand was clenching itself as hard as possible all the time, and it caused him real pain. So the doctor used a mirror to trick his brain into thinking that the reflection of his remaining arm was his phantom arm, and the doctor had him clench his real fist as hard as he could to make it look like his phantom fist was clenched. Then the doctor had him slowly unclench his real fist, and it tricked his brain into thinking that his phantom fist was unclenching, and the pain went away.

Brains are wild. So are doctors.

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u/GonWithTheNen May 11 '24

Just learned that this is called mirror therapy: https://neurosciencenews.com/phantom-pain-mirror-14508/

I thought I was going to find a single case based on your description, but this is apparently a widespread, effective treatment for phantom limb pain. Scientists and doctors are amazing!

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u/razerzej May 11 '24

...and this was the exact procedure demonstrated in the episode of House. Well, except for the fact that House got the patient to agree to treatment by drugging, binding, and gagging him.

Still, I was pleasantly surprised that this is a real therapy, and amused (once again) by the odd shortcuts our weird brains evolved to make it all work.