Introduction: Phantom pain can be described as a perception of pain in a part of the body that has been amputated. Its treatment is multi-layered and complex and in most cases unsuccessful. In the last few years much has been said about a new method of treating this phenomenon. An environment that creates an optical illusion of a limb, and works similar to the mirror therapy, is virtual environment. It gives amputated individuals the opportunity to be actively involved in various activities, which are impossible for them to do in reality. Experts believe that a virtual environment could be an effective therapy for healing phantom pain. Purpose: We wanted to find out whether virtual reality can influence the quality, length and intensity of phantom pain. Methods: Expert and scientific articles were sought in the Pub Med database. The analysis of the level of proof in the articles was done with guidelines from the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network. Results: In seven studies examined four different systems of virtual reality for the treatment of phantom pain were found and analysed. All seven of them received a grade of 3 for their level of proof. In all analysed studies authors reports positive results when using any of the virtual reality systems, yet not all of them give an answer regarding the effect on the quality, length and intensity of the phantom pain. Discussion and conclusion: Examined studies demonstrated that this method works with some researchers, and unsuccessful with some individuals. What exactly influences the rate of its success remains an unknown, as this method of treating phantom pain is currently only gaining in its true sense. The found and examined studies only research the approach to using this technology. Naturally, with the goal that this method could prove to be a solution for persons with phantom pain. Clearer results on the influence of the individual systems of virtual reality on the quality, length and intensity of phantom pain will be revealed by future research.
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