A Pilot Study of the Impact of Repeated Sessions of Virtual Reality on Chronic Neuropathic Pain

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The use of virtual reality (VR) for pain has numerous studies showing effectiveness. However, there has been limited study of its use for chronic pain. METHODOLGY: This pilot study (N=10) investigated the impact of repeated sessions of a VR application for chronic pain on ten subjects. Impact on pain as well as on psychological variables such as depression, anxiety, catastrophizing, and sense of control over pain was assessed. Subjects underwent three twenty minute sessions of the VR application Cool! on a weekly basis using an Oculus Rift or Vive. The impact of the sessions on pain was assessed at four intervals and psychological data captured at two intervals. RESULTS: Results indicate that the VR sessions provided significant pain relief in all treatment sessions with an average of a 66% reduction in pain during the VR session and a 45% reduction in pain immediately after the session. A decrease in pain was reported to last an average of 30 hours after the session. There appeared to be limited if any impact of the VR intervention on chronic pain levels across time. There was no significant impact found for the VR intervention on depression, anxiety, catastrophizing and sense of control over pain. CONCLUSION: Implications for the use of VR on chronic pain conditions are discussed. More frequent VR interventions for chronic pain may be needed to impact pain across time. In addition, VR applications might not be used as an interventional-type in-office treatment as done here but perhaps need to have a skill teaching component or be an application available for in-home and more frequent use.

Virtual Reality for Neurorehabilitation and Cognitive Enhancement

“…VR visualizes not only events but also psychological conditions and personalized perceptions [ 217 , 218 , 219 , 220 ], induces a sense of ownership [ 221 , 222 ] and of presence [ 223 , 224 , 225 , 226 , 227 ], offers immersion [ 228 ], and renders the self in different reality modes, such as being represented by avatar or having a different gender [ 229 , 230 ]. It also influences physical sensations in interventions, such as pain management [ 231 , 232 ] or stress and anxiety reduction [ 233 ]; induces necessary emotions, such as empathy [ 234 ]; or aims at achieving higher goals, such as self-development [ 235 ].…”

A Survey on the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-based Therapy and Pain Management

“…All routine medical procedure studies used specially designed environments, except [51] used "SnowWorld" system. The other category of studies that used VR for chronic pain management used specially designed VR environments and an HMD to deliver VR [62], [63], [64], [65]. Only one study used a non-immersive computer-based VR system [62].…”

“…Besides, many considerable issues were found in the presented studies. First of all, most of the research studies involved a small number of participants [23], [40], [45], [46], [62], [65], [67]. So, further research studies with a larger number of participants have to be conducted to confirm the efficacy of VR distraction in managing pain.…”

“…Comparing VR therapy with other distraction techniques will help to determine the appropriate mechanisms of using VR interventions that will result in the most distraction effect. Moreover, future studies should develop new VR applications consistent with the patient's pain threshold and the pain type [65], [47]. Consequently, these applications will ensure the best analgesic effect of VR distraction.…”

“…The research question was about whether longer VR sessions will result in a larger analgesic effect when used repeatedly with chronic pain. This pilot study included ten patients aged at least 18 years old primarily diagnosed with one of the chronic neuropathic pain types [65]. Participants delivered three 20minute VR sessions (COOL!…”