Long-term monitoring of patients evidenced that Phantom Limb Pain (PLP) is correlated with triggers of various nature. Often the PLP duration can range from several hours to several years. During the chronization of the pain, the nociceptive system is known to activity dominate over activity of antinociceptive system, and the pathological excitation focus develops and the pathological determinant appears in the brain. This is a part of pathological system and it manifests itself in various symptoms including PLP.
 Objective:  to assess the Empatho-techique efficiency for patients suffering from PLP and to describe its presumable  mechanisms. 
Materials: the research was carried out on 135 patients suffering from PLP (83 men and 52 women aged 25 to 74). Visual analogue pain scale was used for PLP intensity assessment before and after each session of Empatho-technique which was used for PLP elimination. STATISTICA v10.0 program was used. 
Results and discussion: before the first “Empatho-technique” session, the intensity of PLP (6.58±0.19) level corresponded to strong level. After the first session, the intensity of PLP (2.62±0.09) significantly (p<0.01) decreased and corresponded to the level of slight pain.  Before the final session, the intensity of the PLP (1.76±0.09) corresponded to the level of light pain. After the final session, patients assessed their levels of PLP (0.98±0.04) as “absence of pain” or “slight discomfort”. Thus, grounding on the received results, we can assume that the ‘Empatho-technique” method neutralizes the pathological excitation focus, inactivates the pathological determinant and increases the inhibitory effects of antinociceptive system.

PHANTOM LIMB PAIN: PRESUMABLE MECHANISMS OF EMPATHO-TECHNIQUE USAGE