PHANTOM LIMB DEVELOPMENT IN CONGENITALLY UPPER LIMB-DEFICIENT INDIVIDUALS

Abstract

We collected myoelectric data from five congenitally below-elbow limb-deficient volunteers for evaluation of a myoelectric prosthesis control system using contralateral stimulation. The volunteers reported no phantom limb experiences before the data collection, but began to feel phantom-like sensations of their missing hands during the data collection. Some described limits on their new perceptions remarkably similar to the phantom motion limits described by traumatic amputees (i.e., difficulty in fully opening and closing the phantom’s fingers). Significant changes occurred in the volunteers’ myoelectric data signatures after they began to feel the phantoms.