Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

In just seven minutes a day, patients can enjoy relief.>

Providers have several treatment options for patients suffering from chronic pain, including physical therapy and opioids. However, researchers have discovered that virtual reality (VR) has proven effects that go beyond simple pain relief.

Learn how VR is helping patients retrain their brain to deal with chronic pain.

Become Immersed in a Virtual Reality

VR is a simulated, yet fully immersive, experience that mimics the real world. The user wears a VR headset that provides a 360-degree view of a virtual world. As the user turns their head in any direction, the view of their computer-generated surroundings changes to mimic viewing a real-world environment. Plus, speakers in the headset or headphones provide lifelike audio during the experience.

VR is a phenomenal entertainment experience that plunges the user into another world with no external distractions. Whether users are exploring their favorite social media, playing video games, or watching sports events, the user becomes immersed in the virtual world.

In recent years, scientists have explored using this technology as a treatment option for patients suffering from chronic pain.

Know How VR Can Treat Different Body Areas

According to a 2016 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report, approximately 50 million Americans live with chronic pain. Researchers have also discovered that other factors can contribute to the pain the patient is experiencing.

“Chronic pain, like most chronic disease conditions, is a multidimensional condition, meaning that the physical pain gets exacerbated by depression, anxiety, sleeplessness, fear of movement, and social isolation. To effectively address chronic pain, the healthcare industry needs comprehensive solutions,” says Josh Sackman, president and co-founder of AppliedVR in Los Angeles.

Through trials, researchers have been able to test their theories regarding VR’s treatment efficacy. “Our team has three concurrent National Institute of Health (NIH)-funded trials for studying VR for chronic pain. The first is for chronic lower back pain, the second is for pain associated with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, and the third is for treating chronic pain is rural areas,” says Omer Liran, MD, co-director of the virtual medicine program and assistant professor in the department of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles.

AppliedVR initially focused on treating chronic lower back pain (CLBP), but they believe that immersive therapeutics (ITx) has the potential to treat a variety of ailments including the conditions that cause chronic pain, such as fibromyalgia, diabetic neuropathy, osteoarthritis, and endometriosis.

What Does VR Offer That Traditional Medicine Cannot?

Patients suffering from chronic pain have a vast array of treatment options available to them, including over-the-counter (OTC) medications, such as nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), physical and occupational therapy, exercise, and injections. Using opioids is another option for treating chronic pain, but is often last-resort treatment due to the proliferation of addictions and overdoses.

VR has shown the ability to not only provide relief to patients suffering from chronic pain, but also help patients who relied on opioids for treatment wean themselves off the drugs. When patients suffering from chronic pain put on the VR headset and bring a new environment to life, the software can help calm, rather than excite, them. “We believe VR should be a standard of care in pain treatment — a tool in the toolbelt that providers can recommend to any patient experiencing pain that could help them avoid high-cost surgical procedures or long-term use of medications like opioids,” Sackman adds.

Using cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), VR software helps the patient teach their brain to change how they feel and experience the chronic pain. “We combine the underlying concepts of CBT, mindfulness, interoception, diaphragmatic breathing, and pain education to treat patients suffering from CLBP,” Sackman says.

At Cedars-Sinai, Dr. Liren and his team have used VR to help treat patients at the cancer center and in the inpatient department. Dr. Liren created the VR Solace software, which includes guided mindfulness meditation and breathing exercises; it is used with patients undergoing chemotherapy infusions and to “control pain and reduce the amount of opioids necessary to achieve satisfactory pain relief” for hospitalized patients, says Dr. Liren.

Dr. Liren continues to say that while the VR program is in a small pilot stage, the team has plans to expand the inpatient use “significantly” in the coming months.

Retrain the Brain Through Games

When patients put on the headset, they can explore several environments they find therapeutic. Users of VR Solace can choose from eight environments, including forest, beach, space, and desert. The variety is beneficial to the patient since each person has a different emotional reaction to each virtual setting, so patients can find the perfect world to suit their needs.

AppliedVR offers scenes of real-world locations, so patients can enjoy a mindful escape to a variety of destinations. Patients can also choose a visualization that takes them inside the human body to understand how pain affects the mind and body. The software also features games and activities that distract the patient from their pain.

By immersing the patient in different scenes, activities, and games, VR allows the patient to learn helpful skills and understand their condition to feel empowered to manage their pain after their time with the technology is up.

Receive Treatment in the Comfort of Home

When a patient is ready to begin VR therapy, they receive a headset to their home, instead of having to visit a separate inpatient or outpatient facility multiple times a week. AppliedVR’s RelieVRx platform was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and is “meant to be doctor-prescribed … after the patient fills their prescription, our device is shipped directly to their home,” Sackman says. The patient uses the VR technology seven minutes a day for eight weeks where they can achieve pain relief and learn useful skills that can be applied without using the VR headset. Once the eight-week period ends, the patient ships the device back to the company.

Many experts believe that VR could be incredibly instrumental in treating patients suffering from pain. “VR has been shown to be effective for both acute and chronic pain in an ever-growing number of studies. We believe that the time is now to graduate VR technologies from research-only tools to clinically treating patients,” Dr. Liran says.

In addition to chronic pain, Sackman believes VR has the potential to effectively treat behavioral health conditions, such as anxiety, loneliness, and depression, as well as more serious mental health conditions like schizophrenia and bi-polar disorder.

Work in progress: Is there a chance the technology receives coverage from private insurance or Medicare in the future? “We believe that all populations should have access to our immersive therapeutics and are working closely with providers, commercial payers, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to ensure coverage,” Sackman adds.