Published: Chapter on body experience of amputees and its role in the rehabilitation of phantom limb pain

The interdisciplinary textbook “Prothesenversorgung und Rehabilitation nach Amputation und bei angeborener Fehlbildung”, published by Springer in German language, offers therapists, physicians, prosthetists, as well as affected individuals and their families a comprehensive insight into modern approaches to care following amputations and congenital malformations. The book addresses not only medical, but also psychological and social challenges faced by both adults and children.

A particular highlight is the chapter “Verkörperung von Prothesen”: It explores how users experience their prosthesis as part of their own body, and how this body experience influences motivation, usage patterns, and therapy. Especially notable is the finding that a strong sense of embodiment is associated with a significantly lower frequency and intensity of phantom limb pain: Individuals who experience their prosthesis as part of their body suffer from phantom limb pain less frequently and less severely than those who perceive their prosthesis as a foreign object. The underlying psychobiological processes of this phenomenon are also a research focus of the author of the chapter, Prof. Robin Bekrater-Bodmann, at SCN^AACHEN.