Icy VR experience may aid pain relief
Monday November 11th, 2019
Virtual reality immersion in Arctic ice may help relieve intense burning pain, according to British researchers.
Volunteers were immersed in scenes of icebergs, freezing oceans and sprawling icescapes in the study at Imperial College, London.
Researchers said the prospect of icy pain might have helped trigger the pain relief symptoms in the patients – as well as proving a distraction from their own pain.
The proof of concept study, reported in Pain Reports, involved 15 healthy volunteers, who had a cream containing capsaicin smeared on their legs.
During the study patients were given small electric shocks on the sensitised areas – and the impact of the virtual reality immersion tested on reducing the pain this caused.
Some volunteers were subjected to full virtual reality immersion while others simply stared at a still image of an Arctic scene.
Researcher Dr Sam Hughes said: “One of the key features of chronic pain is you get increased sensitivity to painful stimuli. This means patients’ nerves are constantly ‘firing’ and telling their brain they are in a heightened state of pain.
"Our work suggests that VR may be interfering with processes in the brain, brainstem and spinal cord, which are known to be key parts of our inbuilt pain-fighting systems and are instrumental in regulating the spread of increased sensitivity to pain.”
He added: “There are still many things to figure out, but one exciting aspect of our study is that the VR design we used is completely passive – meaning patients don’t need to use their arms. Potentially, it could mean that patients who are bed-bound or can't move their limbs, but with chronic pain, could still benefit from this approach.”
Sam Hughes et al. Attenuation of capsaicin-induced ongoing pain and secondary hyperalgesia during exposure to an immersive virtual reality environment. Pain Reports 22 October 2019; doi: 10.1097/PR9.0000000000000790
Tags: Pain Relief | UK News
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