Moving and visualising a phantom limb in augmented reality may help reduce phantom limb pain and how often amputees' lives are affected by the condition, according to a study published in The Lancet.

The small study involved 14 patients who began experiencing phantom limb pain soon after they had their arm amputated between two and 36 years ago and had not benefitted from other treatments.

Phantom limb pain occurs when amputees experience painful sensations which seem to come from their missing limb. Most amputees experience some pain after losing a limb, but for a third of cases it becomes very severe leading to poor quality of life, worse disability, poorer mental health and greater difficulty in prosthesis use than for amputees without phantom limb pain. The condition is believed to be caused by the brain not adapting to the loss of a limb so the neurons for that area remain active and trigger pain.