Look in the mirror can relieve pain
Those who suffer chronic pain in their extremities can say goodbye to their problems. A new form of therapy, simple and effective, has been discovered with promising results by British scientists. It is conveniently look in the mirror, following certain instructions. observation and reflection on the healthy part of the body, attached to sending information through a mirror “loaded” image of the member at its “healthy” brain, combine to make him believe that the affected area is “good” and leave the result to produce the classic warning pain signals. This innovative treatment works with people with so-called “complex regional pain syndrome” or CPRS (acronym in English ) and repetitive strain injuries (RSI).
The CPRS occurs in one third of people who fracture a wrist, once the cast is removed, the pain persists in his hands, arms and shoulders. The CPRS is a disorder that causes chronic pain as a result of dysfunction central nervous system or peripheral. This syndrome is characterized by radical changes in color and skin temperature in the limb or body part, accompanied by severe burning pain. These pains persist even after the patients’ wounds are completely healed. Therefore, the main symptom is an intense and continuous pain, disproportionate to the severity of the wound (if any), and over time becomes worse instead of better. Experts say that this syndrome affects mostly young women. Often the pain spreads to include a whole limb (hand or leg), even though the original injury was only a finger.
Sometimes the pain may spread to the opposite end. The pain may increase even more with emotional stress. The origin of this rare syndrome is unknown, and handles the likelihood of that is due to various causes ranging from an impairment in the sympathetic nervous system to maintain abnormal immune response, once the wound has healed. repetitive strain injuries or RSI are those injuries that are caused by repetitive physical movements that can damage tendons, nerves, muscles and other body tissues. Some of these affect the musicians, who work long hours on the computer or players, to name a few. New Solution The CPRS Sintim have RSI or difficult treatment.
However, a study by the University of Bath , United Kingdom, led by Dr Candy McCabe, the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases , has shown that both the CPRS syndrome origin as RSI injuries can be cured by the mirrors. The study, published in the journal Clinical Medicine, Journal of the Royal College of Physicians , eight patients with CPRS sat before a long series of mirrors. These mirrors were placed so that patients were only half of his body healthy, the sick being hidden. In addition, they created an illusion of sound reproduction of the half, so to the participants, there were two healthy parts of the body (the result of an optical effect that connects the mirror image of the healthy sides.) patients, although knew they were in an optical effect, should concentrate on the observed image and try to believe what they saw was the reality of his body and themselves.
The result of the experiment was surprising, says New Scientist . The therapy helped the pain disappeared instantly in three patients. Once the mirrors are removed, the pain returned. However, with continued mirror therapy, six of eight patients were cured completely. The other two were not cured due to some additional complications such as ulcers on the arms and actual bodily harm.