If only it was always this easy! Actually, if only it was EVER this easy. Still, there is nothing like an unorthodox approach to patient-clinician relationships to convince a patient that the feeling they have of their hand is absolutely, 100%, totally, a construction of the brain… and it seems to have caused quite a stir – thanks to Jeisea for the heads ups on BuzzSugar’s Review of House episodes and comments such as ‘…I have to admit, that stuff with the mirror seemed more like magic tricks and not medicine’.
We are currently investigating mirror therapy and other approaches to pathological pain and have undertaken several experiments and clinical trials – I would say the jury is not quite back in, but it certainly looks as though mirror therapy has a role in the treatment of pain and other neurological conditions. Check this out for one resaonably recent review – ‘Mirror therapy is it all it’s cracked up to be?‘. In the next blog post ‘Reflections, imagery, and illusions: the past, present and future of training the brain in CRPS‘, we’re looking more at the role of mirrors and graded mirror imagery in the role of chronic pain.