So part two of our big day today was a visit to Lauren's physical therapist Inger Brueckner. She was fantastic. She gave Lauren lots of good information on what she would be doing And what Lauren could expect. The main goal to start is to strengthen the muscles At the base of her amputation. This allows for a good fit of the socket of her future prosthetic. It also gives her strength to maximize the use of this prosthetic. We spent some time discussing the phantom pains and phantom sensations. She explained that The neurons in the brain continue sending out signals to a limb that's no longer there as a result Lauren can feel discomfort or pain because she senses that the missing leg is still there and is feeling pain. Inger introduced Lauren to her first mirror Treatment.
You can see in this picture that a mirror separates Laurens left leg which is her intacted leg and her right leg which is the amputated leg. In this picture you can see that the left leg is reflected in the mirror to help Lauren's brain think that she actually still has two intacted legs.
This is the backside of the mirror with Lauren's amputated leg. The idea is when Lauren looks at the mirror side and uses her left leg the right leg has an easier time doing the same movement. It is also one of the newest techniques to help with the phantom limb pain. An example is when Inger Ask Lauren to pull back her toes She does it on the mirrored side with her left leg and then the amputated leg simulates the same movement and contraction of the muscle even though the toes aren't actually there. It was pretty incredible to watch however Lauren would tell you that it was a pretty freaky and unusual feeling.