Metal bar prevents phantom limb motion: case study of an amputation patient who showed a profound change in the awareness of his phantom limb.

This case report describes an amputee (patient A.S., a 60-year-old male forelimb amputee) who had an extraordinary experience with a phantom limb. He complained that he could not move the wrist of his phantom limb because a metal bar was perceived to be grasped by the hand. As a solution for removing the metal bar, we invited the patient to undergo mirror reflection-induced visual feedback therapy. The patient reported that the metal bar previously grasped by his hand was successfully removed from the phantom during the course of therapy. Interestingly, this experience was accompanied by profound changes in the EMG modulation in the residual wrist muscles. In this article, the possible mechanisms underlying this interesting phenomenon will be discussed.