PHANTOM LIMB PAIN: SUBTLE ENERGY PERSPECTIVES
by Eric Leskowitz, M.D.
ABSTRACT
Phantom limb pain is a puzzling and debilitating condition which responds poorly to allopathic medical interventions. A reconceptualization of this disorder is proposed that integrates notions of subtle energy into an expanded multidimensional paradigm incorporating body, mind and spirit. The biomedical model of pain, perception and memory is reviewed, and found to be unable to explain various aspects of the phantom phenomenon, while the multidimensional energy approach offers explanatory power and opens the door to new therapeutic strategies. An overview of subtle energy
anatomy follows, with reference to the use of Kirlian photography to detect possible electromagnetic correlates of life energy. The phenomenon of “phantom leaf” Kirlian photos is compared to phantom limb sensations in humans. Three case vignenes are presented, in which a modification of
Therapeutic Touch successfully alters patient perception of phantom pain. Most strikingly, these patients are able to perceive noncontact energy interventions on their phantom limb, despite the absence of relevant portions of their nervous system. The theory of a non-neurologically based memory matrix, in accordance with holographic and non-local principles of consciousness, is outlined. Several possible mechanisms of action are proposed that can serve as the foundation for a pathophysiology of subtle energy disorders. Several research projects are suggested which can further test this model.
KEYWORDS: Phantom pain, subtle energy, Therapeutic Touch
INTRODUCTION
Phantom pain may be one of the most unusual symptoms encountered
in rehabilitation medicine. First described by the French military
surgeon Ambrose Pare in the 16th century, these painful burning or
cramping sensations that seem to come from the missing limb itself affect
upwards of 80% of the estimated 1 million people who annually suffer loss of limb through injury or surgery.l Similar pain has also been reported in
phantom breasts, teeth, penis, eyes and tongue post-operatively.l,2 This
phantom pain differs from almost universal proprioceptive phantom sensations, in which patients perceive the existence in space of their missing body parts in a normal and not unpleasant manner.3 Phantom pain is frequently quite intense; secondary depression and suicide are not unusual sequelae, testimony to the extreme suffering which accompanies phantom pain. Because of its neuropathic nature, it is not modulated by opiate receptor mechanisms, and so is typically not responsive to standard narcotic medications.
Treatment strategies have generally been empiric, ranging from pharmacologic (anticonvulsant) and surgical (destruction of anterior horn cells), to electrical (implanted spinal cord stimulaters) and psychological (hypnosis).
Unfortunately, these conventional (and mind/body) treatments for phantom
pain are largely palliative at best, and ineffective more often than not. By one estimate, only 7% of phantom pain patients receive any significant long term benefit from the nearly 50 treatment modalities currently used.4 It would thus seem that the biomedical model on which the therapies for this disorder are based must also be inadequate. This shortcoming leads us to consider other conceptual models to understand the phantom phenomenon. In this paper, I will describe a novel conceptualization of this disorder that is based on the socalled subtle energy model of human anatomy, a model that underlies many of the world’s spiritual and indigenous healing traditions. After outlining this multi-dimensional energy model, I will then describe a therapeutic intervention derived from this model that appears to be clinically effective, as illustrated
by several case studies. Informed speculations about possible mechanisms of action will be presented, guided by several heuristic metaphors.
Suggestions for future research and implications for the field of complementary and alternative medicine will be discussed.
CURRENT MEDICAL UNDERSTANDING OF PHANTOM PAIN
Allopathic medicine’s mechanistic and neurologically based theory of pain and perception has struggled to develop an etiologic theory to explain a sensation that can apparently be generated by absent anatomical structures, and that can even be experienced by paraplegics whose spinal cord has been completely transected rostral to the phantom pain.5 Proposed mechanisms focus on various levels of the nervous system at which aberrant functioning is presumed to occur.
Peripheralists believe the pain originates in persistent sensations generated by the nerve endings of the stump. Centralists look to the CNS for the source
of the abnormal firing patterns, whether at the level of the spinal cord, limbic system or cortical “reverberatory” circuits. Psychologic and mind/body theories assume that cortical modulation of both central and peripheral processes can modulate the pain experience. Generally, several levels of the nervous system are seen to interact in each mechanism. Several examples from the allopathic paradigm follow.