Treatment For Phantom Limb

Condition

In the event of amputation, be it a finger or a whole limb, there is a phenomena called Phantom Limb. This is when the patient experiences feeling in the amputated extremity, be it simply feeling, or in worse cases, pain. When phantom limb is experienced it can be hard to "heal", as it is a psychological response. The most common treatment for phantom limb was therapy, though not all who experienced phantom limb could afford the therapy and therapy sees only about 45% success rate. Therapy for Phantom Limb is also limited on its reach as it has to be in small groups, with higher success in one-on-one settings.

Rune Treatment

The Medical Division of the Research University of Rellen in collaboration with the Moonwin's Royal Archives and Moonwin's University of Ancient Studies has found a method of treating Phantom Limb physically with a 93% success rate in the trials.

This treatment has been in trial phases for ten years running, ran primarily on soldiers in the Vithier War upon the express permission of them and their superiors.

This treatment method is through the use of runes applied to the amputated area. The runes used are ones that predate the current layout of the Central Countries, used in the ancient tribes settles before the rise of the Great Barrier Mountains in the Lonthan Desert. Moonwin's University of Ancient Studies has been translating Runes in texts found throughout the Lonthan Desert and had uncovered what appeared to be a medical journal. In such it described practices for sealing pain, trauma, and several kinds of mental afflictions through the tattooing of runes in vital areas along the patient's body. They, along with Moonwin's Royal Archives provided runes and instruction to Rellen's Medical Division upon request and have since been running trials for their possible application.

In testing with Phantom Limb it his been found that tattooing a specific set of runes into the amputated area shortly after cauterization of the veins and arteries led to heavily reduced onset of Phantom Limb, in soldiers decreasing from a 13 in 20 chance to a 7 in 100.

Further testing was done in patients who were experiencing Phantom Limb from an old injury. It was found that tattooing of the runes to the afflicted area led to a 87% recovery rate, while tattooing of the runes to the nearest joint between the amputated limb and the spine has led to a 100% recovery rate to date. There have been no cases of relapse.

Future Research

Interest has been raised in running trials using Rune Ink for the tattoos. These trials are also being run concurrently with other potential medical uses of rune tattoos and has led to hope for the future of this research.

The team responsible is also continuing to monitor patients in order to determine how long the treatment lasts.

Research Practices

• The level of pain or discomfort caused by the condition is assessed.
• The patient and their superior is given all relevant information on the practice and upon their agreement to take part proceed.
• The appropriate runes and configuration are chosen. There is no noted effect caused by the aesthetic configurations of the runes, so long as the correct runes are used, so the patient is offered a selection of designs to choose from.
• The rune is applied.
• The patient's condition is then reviewed every day for a week, and then once a week for five months, and then once a year from that point on. These reviews consist of the condition of the tattoo (fading, cracking, any scars that may overlap it), a review of the patient's pain associated with the amputated area and Phantom Limb, and then their thoughts on the practice.
• Patients are also asked to keep record of any reoccurring feelings in the Phantom Limb.

Importance

With war commonly taking place in the central countries 1 in every 3 soldiers historically has an amputation of some degree in times of war. Out of these amputations, Phantom Limb appears in about 13 of every 20.

Outside of warfare, the occurrence of Phantom Limb is an occupational hazard seen in miners, construction workers, and other professions that sometimes see irreparable damage seen to limbs, leading to amputation. These patients see a lower occurrence of Phantom Limb, being closer to 3 in every 20.

It has been noted that patients with a more traumatic experience leading to amputation will have a higher chance of developing Phantom Limb.

Phantom Limb has been of interest in the medical and military communities for some time due to the stress it can cause. With military concerns being largely the welfare that must be provided to the soldier after amputation.

Notes from Patient Surveys

• "Looks cool as hell."
• "The pain is gone, I can finally sleep again."
• "I've been able to adjust to missing my arm, while I've had little progress over the past three years."

Runes Used in Established Application

• Two different runes for health, one is often seen used for physical health, while the other is often seen used for mental health though the translation can sometimes be taken as "health of the soul".
• A rune for sealing; translation for this rune is difficult and has no direct translation, but is often denoted to have a meaning like "cutting ties" or "to store away"
• [Either] A rune for longevity [or] A rune for bliss - The rune used in trials is based on a pain level given by the patient on a one to ten scale, patients who give a five or above are given the rune for bliss, while patients who give below a five or remark on the phantom limb as causing only "discomfort" or "frustration" are given the rune for longevity.