The Use of Virtual Reality in the Rehabilitation of Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain

Abstract

Objectives: There has been a major interest in using virtual reality (VR) as a pain-management tool. This systematic review evaluated the literature on the use of VR in the treatment of chronic nonspecific neck pain (CNNP). Methods: Electronic database searches were conducted in Cochrane, Medline, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Scopus between inception and November 22, 2022. Search terms used were synonyms of “chronic neck pain” and “virtual reality.” Inclusion criteria were as follows: chronic neck pain patients or pain lasting longer than 3 months; nonspecific neck pain; adult population; VR intervention; and functional and/or psychological outcomes. Study characteristics, quality, participant demographics, and results were independently extracted by 2 reviewers. Results: VR interventions demonstrated significant improvement in patients experiencing CNNP. Scores in the visual analogue scale, the Neck Disability Index, and range of motion were significantly improved compared with baseline but not better than gold standard kinematic treatments. Discussion: Our results suggest that VR is a promising tool for chronic pain management; however, there is a lack of VR intervention design consistency, objective outcome measures, follow-up reporting, and large sample sizes. Future research should focus on designing VR interventions to serve specific, individualized movement goals as well as combining quantifiable outcomes with existing self-report measures.

Rehabilitation Technologies for Chronic Conditions: Will We Sink or Swim?

“…Balance improved among people with total knee joint replacement, however, VR did not improve function [61]. On the other hand, function and disability improved in two studies [64,65].…”

“…All the studies examined the effects of VR. Pain improved in all studies of pain populations [62][63][64][65]. Balance improved among people with total knee joint replacement, however, VR did not improve function [61].…”

“…There were 16 systematic reviews examining the effects of VR, AR, or mixed reality, with the majority examining VR or mixed reality approaches in rehabilitation [10][11][12][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65][66][67][68][69]. (See Table 2).…”

“…There were five studies comprising people with chronic musculoskeletal conditions: four were of pain populations [62][63][64][65] and one consisted of people after total knee replacement [61]. All the studies examined the effects of VR.…”

Clinical Applications of Virtual Reality in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation: A Scoping Review

“…Finally, we agree with the opinions expressed in the two systematic reviews reporting that VR, combined with the interdisciplinary approach, can be promising to reduce pain and kinesiophobia in patients with chronic LBP and improve pain disability and mobility in patients with chronic NP. Nevertheless, high heterogeneity, lack of VR intervention design consistency (objective outcome measures, follow-up reporting, and large sample sizes) make it difficult to propose specific protocols [57,58].…”