Amputee Life

We are all aware of the benefits of staying physically active, especially if aging in the presence of chronic disease. However, studies suggest that there is often a decrease in physical activity after limb loss, which has harmful effects on overall health and functioning. So, how can you deviate from the trend and resume long-term physical activity after amputation?

Unlike other animals, humans are constantly developing. This is why we need our parents’ protection in the first phase of life. This is also why our experiences have the power to make our brains adapt, change, and modify in function and structure throughout life. This phenomenon is called neuroplasticity, and it plays a part in how people suffering from phantom limb pain can overcome it.

Although the advancements in 3D printing have allowed prosthetists to custom-design affordable, lightweight, and highly functional prosthetic limbs for their patients, the materials used are often uncomfortable. Conventional 3D-printing materials tend to rub residual limbs the wrong way.

The treatments for chronic pain are as diverse as the causes, and phantom limb pain is no exception. Physicians have long depended on big-name opioid drugs to relieve pain, but there is another promising treatment that can alleviate phantom pain without unwanted side effects: small doses of naltrexone.

More people take pride in their prosthetic limbs and are not afraid to show them off. But a question needs to be asked: are prosthetic covers necessary?