The Effect of Vibrating Silicone Liner on Phantom Pain in People under Transtibial Amputation, a Preliminary Study

One of the complications of amputation, which affects more than 80% of people, is phantom pain. Among the various strategies used to reduce the phantom pain, non-invasive mechanical techniques such as vibration are widely used. Because they have no complications and costs of medical and surgical treatments and, on the other hand, their effectiveness is equal or even more than other strategies. However, considering the increasing need for treatment of this disorder, the adoption of new therapies in this area is necessary. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to design and construct a vibrating silicon liner and its effect on the phantom pain intensity of patients with subcutaneous amputation. This study was a quasi-experimental interventional study in which 8 subjects with unilateral amputation complained of Phantom pain. This test was conducted in two sessions. After molding the patient's feet and making vibrating liner at the first session, Liner was given to the patients and they were asked to use it for one month. Patients' pain levels were measured in two sessions using a McGill Pain Questionnaire and their results were compared in SPSS software with Shapiro-Wilk, Paired T-test and Pearson correlation coefficient. Data analysis showed that after using vibrating liner, all aspects of pain including psychosocial pain, severity of pain, present pain at test time and total pain were significantly decreased (P <0.05). It was also found that there was a significant correlation between severity of psychological aspect of pain in two sessions (Pearson corr. = 0.861, sig. = 0.006). The results of this study showed that the above intervention could significantly reduce phantom pain. Probably the effect of reducing it can be due to a number of reasons, including the effect of vibration on the central and peripheral nervous system, the effect on the stomach vessels, psychological effects, and even the effect of placebo.