A Pilot Study of the Impact of Repeated Sessions of Virtual Reality on Chronic Neuropathic Pain

International audienceOBJECTIVE: The use of virtualreality (VR) for pain has numerous studiesshowing effectiveness. However, there hasbeen limited study of its use for chronicpain. METHODOLGY: This pilot study(N=10) investigated the impact of repeatedsessions of a VR application for chronicpain on ten subjects. Impact on pain aswell as on psychological variables such asdepression, anxiety, catastrophizing, andsense of control over pain was assessed.Subjects underwent three twenty minutesessions of the VR application Cool! on aweekly basis using an Oculus Rift or Vive.The impact of the sessions on pain wasassessed at four intervals andpsychological data captured at twointervals. RESULTS: Results indicate thatthe VR sessions provided significant painrelief in all treatment sessions with anaverage of a 66% reduction in pain duringthe VR session and a 45% reduction inpain immediately after the session. Adecrease in pain was reported to last anaverage of 30 hours after the session.There appeared to be limited if any impactof the VR intervention on chronic painlevels across time. There was no significantimpact found for the VR intervention ondepression, anxiety, catastrophizing andsense of control over pain.CONCLUSION: Implications for the useof VR on chronic pain conditions arediscussed. More frequent VRinterventions for chronic pain may beneeded to impact pain across time. Inaddition, VR applications might not beused as an interventional-type in-officetreatment as done here but perhaps needto have a skill teaching component or be anapplication available for in-home andmore frequent use