Pain Management Options Following Amputation

Pain Management Options Following Amputation (AT016-2)

Approximately 95 percent of people with an amputation will experience at least one type of post-amputation pain. Post-amputation phenomena can be classified into phantom limb pain, phantom limb sensation, and residual-limb pain. The effective management of pain is critical to patients’ quality of life and effective functioning with a prosthesis. The recent large increases in addiction and deaths related to opioid use in the United States has focused attention on the need for a careful approach and a variety of modalities to manage post-amputation pain. This article will focus on treatments for phantom limb pain and chronic residual-limb pain that are not resolved by prosthetic adjustments or surgical revisions.