Virtual Reality as an Adjunct Home Therapy in Chronic Pain Management: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

BackgroundVirtual reality (VR) therapy has been successfully used as an adjunct therapy for the management of acute pain in adults and children, and evidence of potential efficacy in other health applications is growing. However, minimal research exists on the value of VR as an intervention for chronic pain.ObjectiveThis case series examined the value of VR to be used as an adjunctive therapy for chronic pain patients in their own homes.MethodsAn exploratory approach using a case series and personal interviews was used. Ten chronic pain patients received VR therapy for 30 min on alternate days for 1 month. Pre- and postexposure (immediately afterwards, 3 h, and at 24 h) pain assessment was recorded using the Numerical Rating Scale (NRS), and weekly using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and Self-completed Leeds Assessment of Neuropathic Symptoms and Signs pain scale (S-LANSS). Terminal semistructured personal interviews with the patients were also undertaken.ResultsOf the 8 patients who completed the study, 5 of them reported that pain was reduced during the VR experience but no overall treatment difference in pain scores postexposure was observed. VR was not associated with any serious adverse events, although 60% of patients reported some cybersickness during some of the experiences.ConclusionsOf note is that the majority of these study participants reported a reduction in pain while using the VR but with highly individualized responses. One patient also reported some short-term improved mobility following VR use. Some evidence was found for the short-term efficacy of VR in chronic pain but no evidence for persistent benefits.

Virtual reality distraction induces hypoalgesia in patients with chronic low back pain: a randomized controlled trial

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Virtual Reality Analgesia With Interactive Eye Tracking During Brief Thermal Pain Stimuli: A Randomized Controlled Trial (Crossover Design)

“…There is growing evidence that adjunctive immersive virtual reality distraction can help reduce the suffering of patients during medical procedures with little or no side effects from the VR (Hoffman, 1998;Hoffman et al, 2000Hoffman et al, , 2011Garrett et al, 2014;Atzori et al, 2018a,b;Indovina et al, 2018). Virtual reality goggles with eye tracking technology embedded into the goggles, have recently become commercially available, and could potentially help make VR more distracting.…”

Immersive Virtual Reality for the Management of Pain in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

“…(Pozeg et al, 2017;Gilpin, Bellan, Gallace, & Moseley, 2014), our participants also reported feeling altered perceptions, with one participant reporting that she felt the decrease in pain because the VR "took me out of my body" in relation to the effect on pain [Code 05]. Some authors report that pain only subsides during the VR experience with no substantial carryover (Garrett, Taverner, & McDade, 2017;Shin et al, 2016). Our study is limited by the time points of pain reports, specifically, a lack of pain reports outside of the VR experience and a follow-up assessment.…”