Phantom Limbs

The concept of phantom limbs, the perception that amputated limbs are still present, dates back to a French military surgeon in the 16th century.

After 25 people used virtual reality headsets to practice flying with virtual wings—flapping their arms—their visual cortex responded to the wings almost as if they were real arms, treating them as body parts.

Phantom limbs aren't just limited to limbs—there are phantom breasts, teeth, and more, and these sensations are often painful.

Recent research found that the brain doesn't seem to massively rewire following amputation—upending earlier beliefs about the cause of phantom limb pain.

Readers thought the fictional Civil War vet George Dedlow, a character suffering from phantom limb pain in an 1866 story in The Atlantic, was real—and sent donations and stopped by the hospital to meet him.

Read the 1866 story that put phantom limbs on the map.

Learn how a doctor successfully treated a patient's phantom limb pain with a mirror, tricking his brain into thinking his still-present arm was the missing paralyzed left one.

Phantom limb pain may often match the pain or contortion of the injury that led to the limb loss.

Non-amputees can be tricked into thinking they have phantom limbs with rubber arm experiments.

Listen to an amputee describe what it was like in the aftermath of his partial foot amputation and how his chronic, extreme pain fueled his depression and his decision to attempt to alleviate the pain with the radical surgery.