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The Impact of a Virtual Reality Environment on Phantom Limb Pain

NCT03934528 · Status: WITHDRAWN · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Last updated 2025-04-30

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Phantom limb pain occurs in the majority of people who lose a limb. It significantly affects quality of life and is hard to manage. Recent evidence suggests that mirror therapy and similar techniques that create a visual representation of the missing limb under the control of the patient may reduce phantom limb pain.

The investigators previously explored the use of a virtual reality environment for this purpose with people with upper limb loss but found that using it within the clinical setting limited its potential efficacy. Phantom limb pain is highly variable and assessing the effects of the activity during a hospital appointment when the phantom pain may not be present, or may not be problematic, made it difficult to judge the effects adequately.

This study involves training the patient in the clinic to use a portable, self-contained virtual reality system which they will then use at home, unsupervised, for 2 months. The aim is to discover whether phantom limb pain intensity decreases by performing an activity in a virtual reality environment in which a visual representation of the missing limb is controlled by the patient. Participants will be directed to use the system every day, and whenever their phantom limb pain is present and problematic.

Conditions

  • Phantom Limb Syndrome With Pain

Interventions

DEVICE

Virtual environment activity

Patients undertake an activity using simulated arm movement within a virtual reality environment every day for two months

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • University of Manchester

    lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Model
SINGLE_GROUP

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2019-06-30
Primary Completion
2019-09-30
Completion
2019-11-30

Countries

  • United Kingdom

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT03934528 on ClinicalTrials.gov