Mirror Therapy Introduced To Bosnia

Bosnian Health Professionals

Though the war in Bosnia ended more than twenty years ago, there are still many amputees left who experience debilitating phantom limb pain.

To address this wide-scale problem, five Mirror Therapy workshops were presented in Bosnia during September '13 by Moira Judith Mann, co-founder of End The Pain Project .

The workshops marked the beginning of certified health professionals training other health professionals in Bosnia, with the expectation that Mirror Therapy will eventually reach amputees suffering phantom limb pain throughout the Balkans.

Training with mirror

Two workshops were held at Hope87 headquarters in Sarajevo, arranged by Dr. Amira Karkin-Tais and Dr. Murid Muftic and coordinated by Zana Karkin and Ivana Vujasin of the NGO. Fifteen health professionals received ETPP certificates of completion, which enables them to teach the therapy to other health professionals.

In Banja Luka, two workshops were presented to sixteen staff members of the ZFMR Rehabilitation Hospital through the cooperation of Dr. Natasa Tomic, ZFMR's Medical Director.

Banja Luka amputee using mirror

A workshop presented directly to amputees suffering phantom limb pain was held at the Organization of Amputees UDAS in Banja Luka, organized by Nikola Zec. The results were astounding and included the unfurling of phantom fingers by an amputee who had been experiencing a phantom clenched fist for twenty years after a device exploded in his hand.

Jasmin Avdovic, Physiotherapist/Occupational therapy practitioner, introduced Mirror Therapy training as an idea for future to 260 fellow physiotherapist members of UFFBiH in October, at their 1st Annual Congress. Participants from Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia responded to it with great interest due to high number of people with amputation, especially in Bosnia. He and others mentioned in this post plan to spread the benefits of Mirror Therapy through pan-Balkan workshops.