<b>Phantom limb pain and the phenomenology of body image </b>

Abstract

During the last decade, the neuromatrix theory proposed by Melzack has attracted considerable attention as a basis for exploring the mechanism underlying phantom limb pain. In the neuromatrix theory, emphasis is placed on the role of sensory input as well as motor output in synthesizing the neurosignature that gives rise to the quality of the self, the feeling that all parts of the body are uniquely one's own. This view resembles that of Husserlian phenomenology, which analyzes the formation of body image through changes in sensory experience induced by body movement, termed Kinesthese. The present paper analyzes various clinical findings in patients with phantom limb pain, who were treated by thalamic relay nucleus stimulation, from a phenomenological standpoint, and discusses how the results of such an analysis are reconciled with the neuromatrix theory. While attention has been paid mainly to disturbances of sensory input in investigating the mechanism of phantom limb pain, more research on the role of disturbances of motor output may be needed in order to clarify the exact picture of the pathophysiology of phantom limb pain and to establish an efficient therapeutic approach to this form of pain.