Binoculars to reduce pain?
Yes, it turns out that you can use binoculars to reduce pain in your
aching limbs. Just looking through the binoculars at the affected limb
decreases the pain considerably, but, and here's the interesting part,
it will happen only if you look at it from the wrong end of the
binoculars, thus making the image look smaller than it really is.
Researchers at Oxford publishe
d
a study in the Nov. 25th, 2008 issue of 'Current Biology' (Source 1) in
which they claimed that by manipulating the appearance of a chronically
achy hand, they could increase or decrease the pain and even swelling
itself in patients with aching limbs.
The researchers tried the
method in 10 patients with chronic pain and found that the pain in the
limbs was considerably reduced with the above method. But the more
interesting part came when they discovered that along with the pain, the
swelling also was reduced with the help of binoculars.
G.
Lorimer Moseley, one of the researchers, said, "The brain is capable of
many wonderful things based on its perception of how the body is doing
and the risks to which the body seems to be exposed." (Source 2)
This is very much similar to the case of V.S. Ramachandran's technique
of reducing phantom limb pain (or even "amputating" the phantom limb)
which we have covered earlier: http://tinyurl.com/c5ugrkv
According to the researchers, on many occasions, the experience of pain
is directly proportionate to the brain's perception of danger to the
affected limb. And if it looks bigger, it looks more sore and more
swollen and the brain acts to protect it (in effect, yelling "Don't
touch"). Thus, by reversing the effect with the help of looking at the
aching part from the other end of the binoculars, the pain and swelling
can be reduced.
Source:
1) http://www.cell.com/
2) http://www.sciencedaily.com/
3) http://www.independent.co.uk/
Image:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/
Binoculars to reduce pain?
Yes, it turns out that you can use binoculars to reduce pain in your aching limbs. Just looking through the binoculars at the affected limb decreases the pain considerably, but, and here's the interesting part, it will happen only if you look at it from the wrong end of the binoculars, thus making the image look smaller than it really is.
Researchers at Oxford publishe
Yes, it turns out that you can use binoculars to reduce pain in your aching limbs. Just looking through the binoculars at the affected limb decreases the pain considerably, but, and here's the interesting part, it will happen only if you look at it from the wrong end of the binoculars, thus making the image look smaller than it really is.
Researchers at Oxford publishe
d
a study in the Nov. 25th, 2008 issue of 'Current Biology' (Source 1) in
which they claimed that by manipulating the appearance of a chronically
achy hand, they could increase or decrease the pain and even swelling
itself in patients with aching limbs.
The researchers tried the method in 10 patients with chronic pain and found that the pain in the limbs was considerably reduced with the above method. But the more interesting part came when they discovered that along with the pain, the swelling also was reduced with the help of binoculars.
G. Lorimer Moseley, one of the researchers, said, "The brain is capable of many wonderful things based on its perception of how the body is doing and the risks to which the body seems to be exposed." (Source 2)
This is very much similar to the case of V.S. Ramachandran's technique of reducing phantom limb pain (or even "amputating" the phantom limb) which we have covered earlier: http://tinyurl.com/c5ugrkv
According to the researchers, on many occasions, the experience of pain is directly proportionate to the brain's perception of danger to the affected limb. And if it looks bigger, it looks more sore and more swollen and the brain acts to protect it (in effect, yelling "Don't touch"). Thus, by reversing the effect with the help of looking at the aching part from the other end of the binoculars, the pain and swelling can be reduced.
Source:
1) http://www.cell.com/
2) http://www.sciencedaily.com/
3) http://www.independent.co.uk/
Image:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/
The researchers tried the method in 10 patients with chronic pain and found that the pain in the limbs was considerably reduced with the above method. But the more interesting part came when they discovered that along with the pain, the swelling also was reduced with the help of binoculars.
G. Lorimer Moseley, one of the researchers, said, "The brain is capable of many wonderful things based on its perception of how the body is doing and the risks to which the body seems to be exposed." (Source 2)
This is very much similar to the case of V.S. Ramachandran's technique of reducing phantom limb pain (or even "amputating" the phantom limb) which we have covered earlier: http://tinyurl.com/c5ugrkv
According to the researchers, on many occasions, the experience of pain is directly proportionate to the brain's perception of danger to the affected limb. And if it looks bigger, it looks more sore and more swollen and the brain acts to protect it (in effect, yelling "Don't touch"). Thus, by reversing the effect with the help of looking at the aching part from the other end of the binoculars, the pain and swelling can be reduced.
Source:
1) http://www.cell.com/
2) http://www.sciencedaily.com/
3) http://www.independent.co.uk/
Image:
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/
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