24-year-old Kirsty Mason had the lower part of her right arm amputated when she was 18 after falling in front of a train at Wokingham railway station after she blacked out on the platform.

As well as having part of her arm amputated, she also needed hip pinning, leaving her in a wheelchair for more than three months.

Now she is backing a research project led by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust and Oxford University, which sheds new light on what happens to the large parts of the brain that control hand and arm movements when a hand is missing, and how the brain adjusts to find new ways to complete everyday tasks like tying shoelaces.

Experts at the university predict that it could have widespread implications, particularly in helping amputees and people with congenital limb deficiency make the best use of their residual arm – both with and without prosthetics.

The researchers used functional MRI brain scans to measure the brain’s response in people missing a hand who attend the Oxford Centre for Enablement, a specialist rehabilitation unit at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre in Oxford.

Miss Mason, a former Binfield resident who now works and lives at the Raymond Crescent Supported Living Service in Guildford, said: “I’ve had to adjust to life with only one hand. It’s interesting to get an insight into how my brain has adapted and the different messages it now sends.

“It would be great if this research led to better understanding of how the brain functions when someone loses a limb that could make life better for people in my situation.” Study co-author Dr David Henderson Slater, consultant in neurological disability and rehabilitation medicine, based at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre, said: “We have always known that some people adapt to the loss of a limb very soon, and start to make changes in the way they use other parts of their body to compensate for not having a hand.

“This study helps us to understand the neuronal basis for this, and shows us that the brain adapts and learns how to supplement for the hand loss. It is encouraging to see that there is hope for improvement even after devastating injuries, and to understand better what is going on inside the brain to make these behavioural adaptations.

“We may be able to incorporate this knowledge into the therapy we offer to new amputees.” The results of the study can be accessed by visiting http://elifesciences.org