A NINTENDO Wii-style device has been helping to ease chronic pain for amputees in Oxford.

The Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre (NOC) in Headington has asked amputees to trial the virtual reality device in a bid to ease "phantom pain" - an affliction that affects about two thirds of people who have lost a limb.

Phantom pain, which can bring sufferers to the point of tears, stems from the area where the limb used to be.

But amputees said the new infrared technology has eased their pain and allows them to become more active and sleep more easily.

Double amputee Donald Cleal, 73, from Bramble Bank, Witney, said pain in his legs had eased after one stint with the machine.

He said: "The pain is like someone sticking something into my heel. It makes me scream, but I have not had as much pain as I had in the not too distant past.

"I do not know how this works, but it certainly does something."

About 20 amputees have now used the new technology, which is similar to the Nintendo Wii games console, in that users control what is on screen using wire-free motion sensors.

The device works by receiving signals from a transmitter attached to what is left of the missing limb.

When the amputee moves, an infrared receiver causes an image of a whole leg or arm to move on a nearby computer monitor.

The computer limbs appear to either operate a foot pedal on a drum, or pick up an apple depending on which limb the amputees are missing.

Consultant Dr David Henderson Slater, of the NOC's Oxford Centre for Enablement, said a high percentage of amputees who used the device developed a sense of 'agency' - the subconscious belief their limb was still attached - which had eased their pain.

He said doctors did not yet know how long the pain relief could last after the patients used the technology.

Chris Coombs, 67, who lost the lower part of his left leg in a horseriding accident six years ago, said: "Phantom pain is very painful. It reduced me to tears and I have got a high pain tolerance with all the things I have been through.

"This has worked. The first time I tried it led to the first pain-free night I'd had. It was fantastic."

The as-yet unnamed technology cost £100,000 to develop and is the brainchild of Professor Jonathan Cole, of the University of Bournemouth.

Dr Henderson Slater said he hoped the technology would eventually be used by amputees on home computers.

He added: "It is very promising. It senses where you are - a bit like a Wii. The patients are often very intrigued by it and seeing their own leg move, because they are used to being without their own leg."