Comparison of Efficacy of Mirror Therapy vs. Mental Imagery in Reduction of Phantom Limb Pain in Above-Knee Amputee Patients: A Comparative Study

Background: Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a common and debilitating condition affecting amputees, characterized by pain in the absent limb. Despite available pharmacological treatments, non-pharmacological interventions like mirror therapy (MT) and mental imagery (MI) have shown promise in managing PLP.Objective: To compare the efficacy of mirror therapy versus mental imagery in reducing PLP among above-knee amputee patients.Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted at Hamid Latif Hospital and Ghurki Hospital, Lahore, involving 24 above-knee amputees aged 12-75 years with PLP for at least three months. Participants were randomly assigned to Group A (MT) or Group B (MI). MT sessions involved 30 minutes of mirror reflection exercises, while MI sessions included 30 minutes of guided mental visualization of limb movements. Pain was assessed using the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using SPSS 25 with Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests.Results: Group A showed a significant reduction in NPRS scores with a mean rank of 9.79 (p=0.052), while Group B had a mean rank of 15.21 (p=0.052), indicating a trend towards greater efficacy in the MT group.Conclusion: Both mirror therapy and mental imagery effectively reduced PLP, with mirror therapy showing a slightly superior effect.