Re: Combining the Absence of Electromagnetic Fields and Mirror Therapy to Improve Outcome for Persons with Lower-Limb Vascular Amputation: Letter to the Editor
PO Journal of Prosthetics & Orthotics: July 2017 – Volume 29 – Issue 3 – p 98–99
Combining the Absence of Electromagnetic Fields and Mirror Therapy to Improve Outcomes for Persons with Lower-Limb Vascular Amputation
Official Journal of The American Academy of Orthotists and Prosthetists
JPO Journal of Prosthetics & Orthotics
October 2016 – Volume 28 – Issue 4 – p 154–164
doi: 10.1097/JPO.0000000000000108
Houston, Helen MS, OTR/L; Dickerson, Anne E. PhD, OTR/L, SCDCM, FAOTA; Wu, Qiang PhD
Improving Functional Outcomes for Vascular Amputees Through Use of Mirror Therapy and Elimination of the Effects of Electromagnetic Fields.
This study aimed to ascertain the effectiveness of using a combined treatment protocol of eliminating electromagnetic fields by use of the Farabloc technology and the exercise program of Mirror Therapy. The main hypothesis was that the combined treatment protocol would have a more significant effect than either treatment in isolation. Decreasing edema and the discomfort due to phantom limb pain would improve the functional activities and quality of life of vascular amputees with lower extremity amputations. This was found to be true.
Occupational Therapy Health Care, 2016
PMID: 26295593
Phantom limb pain: an energy/trauma model
Leskowitz E1.
Explore (NY). 2014 Nov-Dec;10(6):389-97. doi: 10.1016/j.explore.2014.08.003. Epub 2014 Aug 20.
PMID: 25264368
Aluminium foil for the prevention of post-amputation pain: a randomised, double- blinded, placebo-controlled, crossover trial
Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a painful sensation perceived in the missing limb after amputation. The underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. Until recently, only opioid analgesics have been proven to be effective in prospective studies. Anecdotally, patients with PLP employ self-help measures, sometimes including ‘wrapping up’ or rubbing their stump with aluminium foil for relief. Our hypothesis is that wrapping an amputation stump with aluminium foil perioperatively will prevent PLP in the postoperative period.
Innovative Technology to Improve Functional Outcomes for Vascular Amputees: Case Studies
Anne Dickerson, PhD, OTR/L, FAOTA & Helen Houston, MS, OTR/L
Poster Presentations at the Annual Convention of the American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine 2012
Farabloc related presentations
1) Improving Functional Outcomes for Vascular Amputees Through Innovative Technology
2) Innovative Technology to Improve Functional Outcomes for Vascular Amputees: Case Studies
3) The Absence of Electromagnetic Fields and Mirror Therapy to Reduce Vascular Amputee Phantom Limb PainVidant Hospital, Greenville, North Carolina, East Carolina University
The effectiveness of Farabloc technology with Mirror Therapy in reducing phantom limb pain in individuals with a unilateral lower extremity vascular amputation
by Houston, Helen, M.S., EAST CAROLINA UNIVERSITY, 2012, 109 pages; 1510513
The objective of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of combining two interventions, Farabloc technology to eliminate electromagnetic fields and Mirror Therapy to assist in the sensory cortex reorganization, to decrease or eliminate phantom limb pain in vascular amputees.
Amputees experiencing Phantom Limb Pain – The Farabloc Stump Sock
Systematic Reviews
Two systematic reviews found evidence to support Farabloc as an effective treatment for management of PLP (Halbert et al., 2002; Stanndard,Kalso,&Ballantyne,2010).
- The 2002 review on the optimal management of acute and chronic PLP, documented that Farabloc research was only one of three studies to score the maximumof five points for a quality assessment. For late PLP (greater than 2‐week post operatively), this review agreed that there is evidence suggesting that Farabloc is an effective treatment.
(The Clinical Journal of Pain, 18:84–92 © 2002 Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc., Philadelphia. ”Evidence for the Optimal Management of Acute and Chronic Phantom Pain: A Systematic Review”(Halbert et al.2002 PMID: 1188277). - The findings were affirmed in the second review, listing Farabloc as an intervention supported by evidence for the management of PLP (Stannard et al., 2010).
(Nikolajsen, L. (2010) Phantom Limb Pain, in Evidence-Based Chronic Pain Management (eds C. F. Stannard, E. Kalso and J. Ballantyne), John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., West Sussex, UK.
doi: 10.1002/9781444314380.ch19).
The effect of high frequency radio waves on human brain activity: an EEG study
Ke Wu, Amirsaman Sajad, Syed A. A. Omar, and William MacKay; University of Toronto Journal of Undergraduate Life Sciences, Vol 3, No 1 (2009)
Medical product test of Farabloc- Chronic knee and lower back pain
Otto Bock Germany – a medical product test of Farabloc knee wraps and back belts.
Systematic Review: Assessment and Management of Acute Pain in Adult Medical Inpatients:
Prepared by:
Portland Veterans Affairs Healthcare System
Oregon Evidence-based Practice Center
Portland, OR
Assessment and Management of Acute Pain in Adult Medical Inpatients: A Systematic Review
Department of Veterans Affairs Health Services Research & Development Service
Evidence‐based Synthesis Program
Efficacy of Farabloc as an analgesic in primary fibromyalgia
An article in the respected British peer reviewed journal Clinical Rheumatology, published in January, 2007, by Dr. G.L. Bach and Dr. D.B. Clement.
The goal of our study was to determine the efficacy of Farabloc, an electromagnetic shielding fabric compared to placebo fabric when worn as a nightgown, as an analgesic in patients hospitalized with fibromyalgia. In a rheumatologic and rehabilitation hospital, we performed a phase 1, single-blind study of patients using Farabloc (F) or placebo (P) gowns for 8 h per night during the 20-day hospitalization and a phase 2, single-blind crossover study of patients using both F and P gowns randomly and alternatively switching after 10 of 21 days hospitalization.
PMID: 17216399
Farabloc Trial
Artificial Limb and Appliance Centre, Rookwood Hospital UK May 2006
Evidence for the optimal management of acute and chronic phantom pain: a systematic review.
Clin J Pain. Philadelphia, PA 2002 March
The objective was to examine the evidence to determine the optimal management of phantom limb pain in the preoperative and postoperative phase of amputations.
Trials were identified by a systematic search of MEDLINE, review articles, and references of relevant trials from the period 1966-1999, including only English-language articles. Included trials involved a control group, any intervention, and reported phantom pain as an outcome.
PMID: 11882771
Alleviation of pain with the use of Farabloc, an electromagnetic shield: A review
Issue: BCMJ, Vol. 43, No. 10, December 2001, page(s) 573-577 Articles
D.B. Clement, MD, J.E. Taunton, MD