Therapeutic trial of acupuncture in phantom limb pain of amputees

For evaluation of the effectiveness of acupuncture in phantom limb pain (PLP) of amputees, 25 males with severe PLP were treated with acupuncture therapy applied to the sound contralateral limb. The patients received from 1-7 acupuncture treatments and were asked to evaluate the pain intensity at each visit on a 0-10 verbal rating scale. All scores were statistically significant when compared to the pre-acupuncture pain scores. The results suggest that acupuncture may produce a considerable analgesic effect, especially following the first acupuncture treatment or in the patients who received acupuncture within one week after onset of PLP, and it also may shorten the total suffering period caused by phantom limb pain.