Phantom limb pain is pain in a limb that has been removed traumatically or amputated. Exactly how many patients suffer from phantom pain is unclear, but it is believed that approximately 30 – 80 percent or more of patients who have amputations will have some type of phantom pain or the nonpainful form called phantom sensation. Phantom pain is thought to be due to nerve injury.

The difference between phantom pain and phantom sensation is that sometimes patients feel the limb that has been amputated and is no longer present, but this feeling is not painful. Phantom pain is specifically the perception of pain or discomfort in the limb that has been amputated. Sometimes this pain and discomfort may be similar to the pain that the patient had prior to the surgery or sometimes a patient may have the new pain or even the perception that the amputated extremity is twisted or distorted.

Another malady associated with amputation of a limb is called stump pain. This is pain located in the end of the extremity that is now left after the amputation. Patients usually perceive stump pain as a different kind of pain unrelated to their previous experienced pain.