Virtual reality for pain relief

Many studies have shown that virtual reality experience can relieve pain. The first such study in burn patients was published 20 years ago. A comprehensive review of this topic, Immersive Virtual Reality and Virtual Embodiment for Pain Relief was published last year by Italian researchers.

A different group of Italian researchers tested the effects of visual distraction on pain in chronic migraine patients. They compared a classical hospital waiting room with an ideal room with a sea view. Both were represented in virtual reality (VR). They measured pain and brain responses induced by painful laser stimuli in healthy volunteers and patients with chronic migraine. Pain was induced in the hand of sixteen chronic migraine patients and 16 healthy controls. This was done during a fully immersive VR experience, where two types of waiting rooms were simulated. Patients with migraine showed a reduction of laser pain rating and brain responses during the sea view simulation. Control subjects experienced the same level of pain in both types of simulated rooms.

An older study of 30 patients with chronic pain showed that 20 patients had pain relief during a VR session. Ten of them reported complete pain relief. Of the 20 who had relief, 10 had continued relief after the VR session.

A combination of VR with biofeedback resulted in lasting benefits in 9 of 10 children with chronic headaches who completed 10 training sessions.

About 5% to 10% of people who try VR get cybersickness. This is a feeling of dizziness or vertigo, similar to motion sickness. This is why VR sessions are often limited to a maximum of 30 minutes.

It appears that there are several possible approaches to the treatment of pain using VR. One is by using VR for distraction. Another, by utilizing VR to facilitate biofeedback, which is proven to relieve migraine and tension headaches. The third way, yet to be proven, is by altering body perception.