Concurrent variation of burning phantom limb and stump pain with near surface blood flow in the stump

Thermographic recordings of body temperature were performed on 30 consecutive amputees who reported stump and/or phantom limb pain. Each subject participated in between two and four recording sessions. Whenever possible, subjects came for recording sessions when their pain intensity was different from that of previous sessions. We found that a consistent inverse relationship occurred between intensity of pain and stump temperature relative to that of the intact limb for burning, throbbing, and tingling descriptions of both phantom and stump pain. Heat emanating from the limbs is an accurate reflection of near-surface blood flow. For subjects giving these descriptions of pain, tensing the limb was followed by a decrease in blood flow and an increase in pain. Neither of these relationships held for other descriptions of either phantom or stump pain.