Abstract
The pain profile following amputation is complex and can be considered as an amalgam of acute post-operative pain, nociceptive pain of the stump, neuropathic pain of the stump, phantom limb pain, mechanical back pain, and pain in more remote sites (such as proximal ipsilateral joints, the contralateral limb) caused indirectly by amputation of the limb. The composition of the pain profile is variable with often more than one of the above co-existing although not all pains necessarily being present and is temporally dependent, varying at different stages of the peri-operative and post operative period. Such complexity makes pain after amputation difficult to manage. Each component of the overall pain experience should be identified and addressed separately.
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Kulkarni, J., Grady, K. (2009). Post Amputation Chronic Pain Profile and Management. In: Murray, C. (eds) Amputation, Prosthesis Use, and Phantom Limb Pain. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87462-3_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-87462-3_9
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