LOST LIMBS THAT ACHE

Evening Star, Issue 18698, 29 July 1924, Page 6

LOST LIMBS THAT ACHE

It is a, curious thing that a man may feel pain in fingers or toes with which he has long parted company, but the explanation is simple. Tlw pl al J or the nervous system is not unlike that of elcctrio bells in a largo house. lam is a danger signal winch calls attention to the approach of some enemy, and each nerve twig over the surface of the bodv registers its warning in the brain where there is an indicator to show the site of the pain. The nerve trunks which convey the messages to tlio brain lie snug among the soft tissues of tlio limbs und body j they have no feeling of their own; it would serve no useful purpose if they had. But if by chance a nerve trunk is pinched or pulled the pain is felt at the bell-push and not in tlio wire. Hence the pressure of a crutch under tlie arm or of the hard edge of a seat on the leg gives rise to “pins and needles ” in the band or foot. Now when a limb has been amputated and the nerves cut across, the nerve fibres always sprout from the cut ends in the forlorn attempt to connect up again with the bell-push which is no longer there. And it is these bunches of loose ends which are so apt to bo caught up in the scar or to bo pressed upon by the artificial limb. Everything depends upon having a well-fitting bucket to the new leg, in which tlio pressure is taken evenly by the whole stump. As a rule, with time and practice, the result is good, and nothing more is felt than an occasional twinge to remind the bearer of the toes which were once, his own. Now and then a further little operation may bo necessary to free the nerve fibrils from the scar.—‘ Daily Nows.’