Magic Mirrors of Movement

This is such a fascinating area, one which has gripped me since I read Ramachandran's Phantoms in the Brain

He managed to reduce (or remove) phantom limb pain in arms by having people put their remaining hand into a mirror box that made it look like the missing hand was still there. Pain quickly reduced.

This is incredible to me - it means that the visual pathway caused the brain to say "Oh, the hand is still there" - overriding the pain created by the brain due to lack of feedback from the missing hand's nerves. I find that incredible.

I have also had the opportunity to use hypnosis with stroke victims and had success helping them move limbs that they were having difficulty with, even when they could not talk due to stroke damage.

As I mentioned in a recent discussion group thread, I was also lucky enough to work recently with a chap who had been unable to lift his arm above shoulder height for over a year. He had been told it was a localised 'palsy'.

One session using simple rehearsal tehniques and a bit of imagination homework and 2 weeks later he had full movement back.

It was something absolutely anyone with a couple of days training could have done.

A friend of mine who is a physiotherapist was recently working with a man who was having severe problems controlling his movements due to a degenerative nerve condition.

His aim was to be able to control his hands enough to feed himself, but the more he tried, the more he shook.

One of the specialists he was seeing happened to have (what sounded like very basic) hypnosis training. He told the guy he was getting sleepier and sleepier, then told him that when my friend put her hand on his shoulder in future he would be able to control his movements in a relaxed way. It worked - a 2 minute intervention.

Eventually it will be understood how important the imagination is, and members of the health services are trained in how to help people use their imaginations constructively. Until then, I'll keep ranting

Nice post andy

Roger