A stroke victim has developed a phantom third arm which she uses ‘just like a real-life limb’.
Tests have proven that, not only does the woman’s brain ‘move’ the arm as if it was real, but also the rest of her body responds when it is ‘touched’ by the phantom hand.
She ‘sees’ the new arm and can even scratch an itch with it, doctors said.
It is the first ever recorded case of a patient being able to see, feel and move a phantom limb, the research team told the Annals of Neurology.
And they think their study could provide the missing link between this phenomenon and out-of-body experiences.