Scientific evidence for the effectiveness of virtual reality for pain reduction in adults with acute or chronic pain (original) (raw)
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Journal of Pain Research
Background: Previous studies have shown that virtual reality (VR) is effective in reducing acute and chronic pain both in adults and in children. Given the emergence of new VR technology, and the growing body of research surrounding VR and pain management, an updated systematic review is warranted. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to compare the effectiveness of VR in reducing acute and chronic pain in adults. Data Sources: A search was conducted in three databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Trip) using standardized search terms. Study Selection: Twenty experimental and quasi-experimental trials published between January 2007 and December 2018 were included based on prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Pain intensity was the primary outcome. Data Extraction: We extracted data and appraised the quality of articles using either the PEDro or Modified Downs and Black risk of bias tools. Data Synthesis: The majority of studies supported the use of VR to reduce acute pain both during the procedure and immediately after. Numerous studies found VR reduced chronic pain during VR exposure but there is insufficient evidence to support lasting analgesia. There was considerable variability in patient population, pain condition and dosage of VR exposure. Limitations: Due to heterogeneity, we were unable to perform meta-analyses for all study populations and pain conditions. Conclusions: VR is an effective treatment for reducing acute pain. There is some research that suggests VR can reduce chronic pain during the intervention; however, more evidence is needed to conclude that VR is effective for lasting reductions in chronic pain.
Utilising Virtual Reality in Pain Management: A Systematic Review
Medicine & Health, 2021
Virtual reality (VR) offers patient with a drug free supplement, an alternative or complementary therapy to traditional pain management. VR technology allowing its use in a wide variety of settings in the medicine world. So, we would like to evaluate the current existing evidence supporting VR in pain management. We conducted a systematic review of interventional and observational studies that examined VR applications in pain management between 2010 and 2019. We used Scopus databases, PubMed, Web of Science, Ovid MEDLINE and EBSCOhost to identify the studies using keywords “patient”, “virtual reality”, “medicine” and “pain management”. Data was obtained by two investigators and agreement was reached with the involvement of a third and fourth investigator. Narrative synthesis for all research was done. A total of 451 citations were identified, among which 12 studies met the criteria for inclusion. Studies involve various countries with participant age ranging from 6 to 75 years old. ...
Virtual reality for acute and chronic pain management in adult patients: a narrative review
Anaesthesia, 2020
Virtual reality is a computer-generated environment that immerses the user in an interactive artificial world. This ability to distract from reality has been utilised for the purposes of providing pain relief from noxious stimuli. As technology rapidly matures, there is potential for anaesthetists and pain physicians to incorporate virtual reality devices as non-pharmacological therapy in a multimodal pain management strategy. This systematic narrative review evaluates clinical studies that used virtual reality in adult patients for management of acute and chronic pain. A literature search found 690 citations, out of which 18 studies satisfied the inclusion criteria. Studies were assessed for quality using the Jadad and Nottingham-Ottawa Scales. Agreement on scores between independent assessors was 0.87 (95%CI 0.73-0.94). Studies investigated virtual reality use: intra-operatively; for labour analgesia; for wound dressing changes; and in multiple chronic pain conditions. Twelve studies showed reduced pain scores in acute or chronic pain with virtual reality therapy, five studies showed no superiority to control treatment arms and in one study, the virtual reality exposure group had a worsening of acute pain scores. Studies were heterogeneous in: methods; patient population; and type of virtual reality used. These limitations suggest the evidence-base in adult patients is currently immature and more rigorous studies are required to validate the use of virtual reality as a non-pharmacological adjunct in multimodal pain management.
Journal of Pain Research, 2019
Background: Previous studies have shown that virtual reality (VR) is effective in reducing acute and chronic pain both in adults and in children. Given the emergence of new VR technology, and the growing body of research surrounding VR and pain management, an updated systematic review is warranted. Purpose: The purpose of this systematic review is to compare the effectiveness of VR in reducing acute and chronic pain in adults. Data Sources: A search was conducted in three databases (PubMed, CINAHL, Trip) using standardized search terms. Study Selection: Twenty experimental and quasi-experimental trials published between January 2007 and December 2018 were included based on prespecified inclusion and exclusion criteria. Pain intensity was the primary outcome. Data Extraction: We extracted data and appraised the quality of articles using either the PEDro or Modified Downs and Black risk of bias tools. Data Synthesis: The majority of studies supported the use of VR to reduce acute pain both during the procedure and immediately after. Numerous studies found VR reduced chronic pain during VR exposure but there is insufficient evidence to support lasting analgesia. There was considerable variability in patient population, pain condition and dosage of VR exposure. Limitations: Due to heterogeneity, we were unable to perform meta-analyses for all study populations and pain conditions. Conclusions: VR is an effective treatment for reducing acute pain. There is some research that suggests VR can reduce chronic pain during the intervention; however, more evidence is needed to conclude that VR is effective for lasting reductions in chronic pain.
Analysis of The Impact of Virtual Reality on Chronic Pain by Ted Jones,Todd Moore, James Choo
2020
The treatment of chronic pain could benefit from additional non-opioid interventions. Virtual reality (VR) has been shown to be effective in decreasing pain for procedural or acute pain but to date there have been few studies on its use in chronic pain. The present study was an investigation of the impact of a virtual reality application for chronic pain. Thirty (30) participants with various chronic pain conditions were offered a five-minute session using a virtual reality application called Cool! Participants were asked about their pain using a 0-10 visual analog scale rating before the VR session, during the session and immediately after the session. They were also asked about immersion into the VR world and about possible side effects. Pain was reduced from pre-session to post-session by 33%. Pain was reduced from pre-session during the VR session by 60%. These changes were both statistically significant at the p < .001 level. Three participants (10%) reported no change between pre and post pain ratings. Ten participants (33%)
2020
BACKGROUND A recent surge in interest at understanding alternative options to pharmacological analgesia for managing acute pain has resulted in the development of a new research field that explores the feasibility of using Virtual Reality (VR) in pain relief regimes within clinical environments. OBJECTIVE To review the current evidence for the efficacy of VR as an analgesic in the management of acute pain in an inpatient setting. METHODS A comprehensive search was conducted till January 2019 on PubMed, Ovid Medline, EMBASE, and Cochrane Database of Systematic reviews as per the PRISMA guidelines. Search terms included ‘virtual reality', ‘vr’, and 'pain'. Primary articles with a focus on acute pain in the clinical setting were considered for the following review. Primary and secondary outcome measures: Quantification of outcomes for acute pain patients in relation to analgesic and anxiolytic effect, modulation of physiological indicators of pain, and adverse effects resul...
Virtual Reality for Management of Pain in Hospitalized Patients: Results of a Controlled Trial
JMIR mental health, 2017
Improvements in software and design and reduction in cost have made virtual reality (VR) a practical tool for immersive, three-dimensional (3D), multisensory experiences that distract patients from painful stimuli. The objective of the study was to measure the impact of a onetime 3D VR intervention versus a two-dimensional (2D) distraction video for pain in hospitalized patients. We conducted a comparative cohort study in a large, urban teaching hospital in medical inpatients with an average pain score of ≥3/10 from any cause. Patients with nausea, vomiting, dementia, motion sickness, stroke, seizure, and epilepsy and those placed in isolation were excluded. Patients in the intervention cohort viewed a 3D VR experience designed to reduce pain using the Samsung Gear Oculus VR headset; control patients viewed a high-definition, 2D nature video on a 14-inch bedside screen. Pre- and postintervention pain scores were recorded. Difference-in-difference scores and the proportion achieving ...
Virtual Reality: A Breakthrough in Pain Management?
2019
Virtual reality is a computer-generated scenario in which the user can interact in 3 dimensions so that the user feels that he or she is part of the scene. Pain is an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage. Pain is often undertreated and this comes along with several consequences such as anger, depression, anxiety, workplace absenteeism, underemployment, unemployment and fear, among others. In the past decade, there has been need to find a safer way of controlling chronic pain without the necessary complication of opioid misuse. Virtual reality has been proved to be a safer adjunct for this. Several studies have reported that virtual reality is quite effective for pain management, with participants reporting significant relief of symptoms. The discovery of the use of virtual reality in the management of pain may prove to be a breakthrough in pain medicine, saving people from the complication...
A Survey on the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-based Therapy and Pain Management
International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, 2021
Virtual reality refers to the technology used to create multi-sensory three-dimensional environments that can be navigated, manipulated, and interacted by a user. This paper's objective is to categorize the most common areas that use virtual reality (VR) for managing pain (psychological and physical). To our knowledge, this is the first survey that summarizes all of these areas in one place. This paper reviews the conducted studies that used VR for psychological treatment, especially with phobias. Also, this paper summarizes the current literature on using virtual reality interventions for managing acute, chronic, and cancer pain. Based on the review, virtual reality shows great potential for controlling acute pain-such as pain associated with burn wound care. However, limited studies only investigated the impact of using virtual reality on patients with chronic pain. The findings indicated that VR distraction has a great impact on pain and distress related to cancer and its treatments. This paper also discusses the challenges and limitations of the current research. Notably, the identified studies recommend VR distraction as a promising adjunct for pain reduction and psychological treatment. However, further research needs to be conducted to determine under what conditions VR distraction will provide more analgesic effects.
Virtual Reality as an Adjunct Home Therapy in Chronic Pain Management: An Exploratory Study
JMIR Medical Informatics, 2017
Background: Virtual 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. Objective: This case series examined the value of VR to be used as an adjunctive therapy for chronic pain patients in their own homes. Methods: An 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. Results: Of 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. Conclusions: Of 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.