Editing Pain (section)

=== Phantom ===
{{Main|Phantom pain}}
[[Phantom pain]] is pain felt in a part of the body that has been [[amputated]] or from which the brain no longer receives signals. It is a type of neuropathic pain.<ref name="pmid10863043">{{cite journal | vauthors = Kooijman CM, Dijkstra PU, Geertzen JH, Elzinga A, van der Schans CP | title = Phantom pain and phantom sensations in upper limb amputees: an epidemiological study | journal = Pain | volume = 87 | issue = 1 | pages = 33–41 | date = July 2000 | pmid = 10863043 | doi = 10.1016/S0304-3959(00)00264-5 | s2cid = 7565030 | url = https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/phantom-pain-and-phantom-sensations-in-upper-limb-amputees(8dd1fc12-cc0d-400b-aef1-72ed0443f9ad).html }}{{Dead link|date=October 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

The [[prevalence]] of phantom pain in upper limb amputees is nearly 82%, and in lower limb amputees is 54%.<ref name="pmid10863043"/> One study found that eight days after amputation, 72% of patients had phantom limb pain, and six months later, 67% reported it.<ref name="pmid6657285">{{cite journal | vauthors = Jensen TS, Krebs B, Nielsen J, Rasmussen P | title = Phantom limb, phantom pain and stump pain in amputees during the first 6 months following limb amputation | journal = Pain | volume = 17 | issue = 3 | pages = 243–256 | date = November 1983 | pmid = 6657285 | doi = 10.1016/0304-3959(83)90097-0 | s2cid = 10304696 }}</ref><ref name="pmid3991231">{{cite journal | vauthors = Jensen TS, Krebs B, Nielsen J, Rasmussen P | title = Immediate and long-term phantom limb pain in amputees: incidence, clinical characteristics and relationship to pre-amputation limb pain | journal = Pain | volume = 21 | issue = 3 | pages = 267–278 | date = March 1985 | pmid = 3991231 | doi = 10.1016/0304-3959(85)90090-9 | s2cid = 24358789 }}</ref> Some amputees experience continuous pain that varies in intensity or quality; others experience several bouts of pain per day, or it may reoccur less often. It is often described as shooting, crushing, burning, or cramping. If the pain is continuous for an extended period, parts of the intact body may become sensitized, so touching them evokes pain in the phantom limb. Phantom limb pain may accompany [[urination]] or [[defecation]].<ref name = "The challenge of pain">{{cite book | vauthors = Wall PD, Melzack R |title=The challenge of pain |edition=2nd |publisher=Penguin Books |location=New York |year=1996 |isbn=978-0140256703}}</ref>{{rp|61–69}}

[[Local anesthetic]] injections into the nerves or sensitive areas of the stump may relieve pain for days, weeks, or sometimes permanently, despite the drug wearing off in a matter of hours, and small injections of [[:wikt:hypertonic|hypertonic]] saline into the soft tissue between vertebrae produces local pain that radiates into the phantom limb for ten minutes or so and may be followed by hours, weeks, or even longer of partial or total relief from phantom pain. Vigorous vibration or electrical stimulation of the stump, or current from electrodes surgically implanted onto the spinal cord, all produce relief in some patients.<ref name = "The challenge of pain"/>{{rp|61–69}}

[[Mirror box]] therapy produces the illusion of movement and touch in a phantom limb, which in turn may cause a reduction in pain.<ref name="pmid8637922">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ramachandran VS, Rogers-Ramachandran D | title = Synaesthesia in phantom limbs induced with mirrors | journal = Proceedings. Biological Sciences | volume = 263 | issue = 1369 | pages = 377–386 | date = April 1996 | pmid = 8637922 | doi = 10.1098/rspb.1996.0058 | bibcode = 1996RSPSB.263..377R | s2cid = 4819370 }}</ref>

[[Paraplegia]], the loss of sensation and voluntary motor control after serious spinal cord damage, may be accompanied by [[girdle pain]] at the level of the spinal cord damage, [[visceral pain]] evoked by a filling bladder or bowel, or, in five to ten percent of people with paraplegia, phantom body pain in areas of complete sensory loss. This phantom body pain is initially described as burning or tingling but may evolve into severe crushing or pinching pain or the sensation of fire running down the legs or of a knife twisting in the flesh. Onset may or may not occur immediately years after the disabling injury. Surgical treatment rarely provides lasting relief.<ref name = "The challenge of pain"/>{{rp|61–69}}