Illusion can halve the pain of osteoarthritis, scientists say

A serendipitous discovery by academics at The University of Nottingham has shown that a simple illusion can significantly reduce — and in some cases even temporarily eradicate — arthritic pain in the hand. By tricking the brain into believing that the painful part of the hand is being stretched or shrunk, the researchers were able to halve the pain felt by 85 per cent of sufferers they tested. The research could point to new technologies of the future which could assist patients in improving mobility in their hand by reducing the amount of pain they experience while undergoing physiotherapy. The Nottingham team stumbled on its finding completely by chance during the University's Community Open Day in April last year. As part of the event they invited members of the public to experience some of the body distortion illusions they use as part of their every day research using Nottingham's unique MIRAGE technology — which takes a real-time video capture image of a hand and uses computer manipulations combined with physically pulling or pushing on the hand to fool the brain into believing the hand is stretching or shrinking. Up until now, the technology has been used for fundamental research into body representation — the way in which our brain puts together what we see and what we feel.