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Assessing the Feasibility of a Virtual Reality Intervention for Phantom Pain Immediately Following Lower Limb Amputation

NCT06638918 · Status: COMPLETED · Type: OBSERVATIONAL · Enrollment: 20

Last updated 2026-01-26

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

The goal of this observational study is to see whether a new virtual reality (VR) program meant to treat phantom limb pain (PLP) is feasible to people immediately following lower limb amputation. This study aims to answer three questions.

1. Is this VR treatment acceptable to people immediately following lower limb amputation?
2. Are the researchers able to recruit participants that represent the population in need of this treatment, and will these participants stay until the end of the study?
3. Do participants who use the VR program more have less severe PLP than participants who use the VR program for fewer sessions?

Participants will:

* Try the VR program in the hospital, their home, and in physiotherapist clinics daily for about seventeen sessions.
* After each session, participants will fill out questionnaires asking about their level of pain, their nausea, and how acceptable they find the program. They will also complete measures asking about how they're feeling and what led to their amputation.
* One month following their final VR session, researchers will phone the participants to ask them to rate how severe their PLP is.

Conditions

  • Phantom Limb Pain

Interventions

DEVICE

Virtual Reality

The virtual reality (VR) intervention administers graded motor imagery (GMI) treatment for phantom limb pain. It consists of three stages: left right sorting task (a sorting task where participants sort images of left and right feet), explicit motor imagery (a series of guided imagery exercises administered via audio to facilitate focus on the phantom limb), and the limb simulation task (where participants perform a series of exercises with virtual legs to create the illusion of movement in their phantom limb). The limb simulation stage can also be conducted with leg trackers to generate a higher degree of illusion in the virtual legs.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Health Sciences Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

    collaborator OTHER

  • University of Manitoba

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • Renee El-Gabalawy, PhD · Associate Professor and Clinical Psychologist

Eligibility

Min Age
18 Years
Max Age
80 Years
Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2024-07-26
Primary Completion
2025-10-17
Completion
2026-01-05

Countries

  • Canada

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 NCT06638918 on ClinicalTrials.gov