Maximal knee flexion angle is maintained during midswing phase of gait

Abstract

Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a common type of chronic pain that occurs after limb amputation. Many treatment approaches are available; however, the treatment of PLP is still a challenge. This study aimed to quantify and rank the efficacy of interventions for phantom limb pain.A comprehensive literature search was performed using the databases of PubMed, MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane. A network meta-analysis was applied to formulate direct and indirect comparisons among interventions for PLP.Twenty-two studies comprising 662 patients and 13 different interventions were included in this study. The mirror therapy (MT) (–1.00; 95% confidence interval, –1.94 to –0.07) and MT + phantom exercise (PE) (-6.05; 95% confidence interval, –8.29 to –3.81) group presented significantly lower pain intensity compared with placebo. In SUCRA (surface under the cumulative ranking curve) analysis, the MT+PE and neuromodulation techniques groups had the highest SUCRA value (81.2).Our results suggest that MT is the most optimal treatment for PLP, and a combination of therapies would enhance the therapeutic effect.