The treatment of phantom limb pain using immersive virtual reality: Three case studies

Abstract

The authors suggest the need for further research using control trials.

PainDroid: an android-based virtual reality application for pain assessment

“… The majority of the research efforts have focused on clinic-based applications running on PC-based platforms [18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29][30], with only a limited number of studies paying attention to the need for mobile pain assessment. In fact, it is surprising that very few (if any) have been 6 built and ported to mobile platforms.…”

Auditory and visual 3D virtual reality therapy for chronic subjective tinnitus: theoretical framework

“…When an amputee patient sees a virtual limb placed at the position of its phantom limb, and when he manages to transfer his sensations to this virtual limb, he also reports a decrease in phantom pain (Murray et al 2007). Moreover, when movements of the virtual limb correspond to capture motion data measured on the patient's stump instead of the opposite remaining limb, it allows the patients to gain agency for the movement they see, and feel embodied within the limb (Cole et al 2009).…”

“…Similar clinical patterns are noticeably present in post-amputation chronic pain syndrome (Møller 2007). Following this analogy, and because techniques of immersion in virtual reality (VR) have demonstrated theoretical and practical value in the treatment of chronic pain (Cole et al 2009;Murray et al 2007), we thought it legitimate to adapt these techniques for patients with ST. The purpose is to act on subcortical mechanisms of integration, by allowing the patient to willingly manipulate his tinnitus in a visual and auditory 3D virtual environment to control or ''master'' tinnitus.…”

A Novel Application of Virtual Reality for Pain Control: Virtual Reality-Mirror Visual Feedback Therapy

“…However, a novel approach is to enhance the existing treatment, which is already known to have some analgesic efficacy for chronic pain, with VR technology. In this context, VR technology has been successfully applied as VR-hypnosis [13], VR-MVF therapy for phantom limb pain [14], and treatment for CRPS [15]. Hypnotic analgesia has gained special attention as an analgesic modality [16].…”

“…Thus, it seems reasonable to integrate Ramachandran's MVF therapy for phantom limb pain with VR technology. Murray et al developed an immersive VR system that transposes movements of an intact limb onto that of a virtual limb in a computer-generated VE [14]. Their system contains a head-mounted display, data glove and sensors for an upper limb, sensors for lower limb, and a Fastrak tracking device for monitoring the movements of head, arm, and legs.…”