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JOURNAL, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2, 2018;  ABSTRACT, POSTER PRESENTATION AT THE AOPA’S 101ST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SEPT. 26-29, VANCOUVER, CANADA, 2018.    DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32008    

1 

 
OPEN  ACCESS 

 

AOPA’S 101 ST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ABSTRACTS, SEPTEMBER 26-29, VANCOUVER, CANADA, 2018 
 

ABSTRACT (POSTER PRESENTATION) 

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT IN AMPUTEES: A REVIEW 

Kamiar Ghoseiri1*, Mostafa Allami2, Mohammad Reza Soroush2, Mohammad Yusuf Rastkhadiv3 

 
1 Department of Orthotics and Prosthetics, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, 

Hamadan, Iran.  
2 Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center (JMERC), Tehran, Iran. 
3 Department of Occupational Therapy, School of Rehabilitation Sciences, Hamadan University of Medical Sciences, Hamadan,  

Iran.  

 *Email: Kamiar_g@yahoo.com                                                                        DOI: https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32008  
                                                                                                                                            

INTRODUCTION 

The prevalence of limb amputation is increasing globally 

as a devastating experience that can physically and 

psychologically affect the lifestyle of a person. The 

residual limb pain and phantom limb pain are common 

disabling sequelae after amputation surgery. Assistive 

devices/technologies can be used to relieve pain in 

people with amputation. The present review aimed to 

introduce the existing assistive devices/technologies for 

pain management in people with amputation. 

METHODS 

An electronic literature search was performed in three 

databases of PubMed, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus to 

find articles that directly or indirectly reported pain 

management using assistive devices/technologies in 

people with amputation. All articles were evaluated by 

two independent reviewers to extract their demographic 

and methodological characteristics. Moreover, the type 

of assistive device/technology and pain relief level were 

extracted for all articles.  

RESULTS 

The electronic search found 142 articles in the three 

chosen databases. After excluding duplicate and 

irrelevant articles, and those incompatible with review 

criteria, 9 articles were remained for evaluation and data 

extraction. 

CONCLUSION 

The present review revealed there are few available 

assistive devices/technologies for pain management in 

people with amputation. The majority of the available 

assistive devices/technologies relieve pain 

conservatively. However, some of them are working by 

infusing a medication and some needs surgery to place 

some components inside body. There is a great need to 

portable, wireless, smart, and thin devices/technologies  

 

to stimulate the spinal cord and peripheral nerves by 

electrical, thermal, mechanical, or pharmaceutical 

stimulus. The overall pain relief cannot easily be 

compared among assistive devices/technologies in this 

review due to different study designs, interventions, and 

characteristics of participants. Long-term randomized 

clinical trials are required to evaluate the effectiveness of 

available assistive devices/technologies. Although some 

preliminary efforts have been done to resolve post 

amputation pain, more attention from researchers, 

clinicians, designers, engineers and manufacturers are 

required. 

 
Figure 1. The procedure for selection of studies from three 

databases. 

 

mailto:Kamiar_g@yahoo.com
mailto:Kamiar_g@yahoo.com
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32008
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32008


 

 

Ghoseiri K, Allami M, Soroush M.R, Rastkhadiv M.Y. ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES FOR PAIN MANAGEMENT IN AMPUTEES: A REVIEW. CANADIAN PROSTHETICS & ORTHOTICS 
JOURNAL, VOLUME 1, ISSUE 2, 2018;  ABSTRACT, POSTER PRESENTATION AT THE AOPA’S 101ST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, SEPT. 26-29, VANCOUVER, CANADA, 2018.    DOI: 
https://doi.org/10.33137/cpoj.v1i2.32008    

2 

 
OPEN  ACCESS 

 

AOPA’S 101 ST NATIONAL ASSEMBLY ABSTRACTS, SEPTEMBER 26-29, VANCOUVER, CANADA, 2018 
 

ABSTRACT (POSTER PRESENTATION) 

SIGNIFICANCE 

•  Residual limb pain and phantom limb pain are common 

complaints of people with amputation.  

•  There are few available assistive devices/technologies 

to relieve residual limb pain and phantom limb pain.  

• More attention to resolve post amputation pain is 

required from researchers, clinicians, designers, 

engineers and manufacturers 

REFERENCES 

1. Dijkstra PU, et al. Phantom pain and risk factors: a 

multivariate analysis. J Pain Symptom Manage. 2002; 24, 578-

85. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-3924(02)00538-9 

2. Ephraim PL, et al. Phantom pain, residual limb pain, and 

back pain in amputees: results of a national survey. Arch Phys 

Med Rehabil. 2005; 86, 1910-9. DOI: 

10.1016/j.apmr.2005.03.031 

3. Pet MA, et al. Does targeted nerve implantation reduce 

neuroma pain in amputees? Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2014; 472, 

2991-3001. DOI: 10.1007/s11999-014-3602-1 

DISCLOSURE 

The authors report no declarations of interest. However, the 

financial support of the research was done by the Janbazan 

Medical and Engineering Research Center (JMERC). 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 

The authors would like to sincerely thank the financial support 

of the Janbazan Medical and Engineering Research Center 

(JMERC), Tehran, Iran for this material. 

 

 

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-3924(02)00538-9
https://doi.org/10.1016/S0885-3924(02)00538-9
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2005.03.031
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apmr.2005.03.031
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-014-3602-1
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11999-014-3602-1

