Technology is changing everyday. Infact the apt word will be EVOLVING. They evolve at a faster rate. We are amidst the 4th industrial revolution or we can better say TECHNOLOGY REVOLUTION. New imaging technology has improved diagnostic medicine easier and more precise. Integrating medicine and technology has become a game changer in saving lives. One among the trending technologies is Virtual reality(VR). In this article, lets see how VR technology can give hand to improve patient’s pain.
Virtual Reality and pain
Virtual reality allows the user an escape from real life with immersive sound, life-like visuals, and interactive, gesture-based interaction.
The International Association for the Study of Pain defines pain as “an unpleasant sensory and emotional experience associated with actual or potential tissue damage, or described in terms of such damage”.
Virtual reality for pain relief dates back as far as the late 1990s when University of Washington researchers Hunter Hoffman and David Patterson developed a game called SnowWorld, in which players throw snowballs at penguins while navigating a snowy environment. A 2011 study showed a 35- to 50-percent reduction in pain in burn victims who played the game while receiving daily wound care, a level comparable to the effects of a medium dose of opioids. In another study, VR decreased the amount of opioid medication requested from patients by an astonishing 39 percent.
Do you wonder how?
Answer is : The gate control theory of pain. It asserts that non-painful input closes the nerve “gates” to painful input, which prevents pain sensation from traveling to the central nervous system. When it hurts somewhere on your body, you tend to rub that part with your hand. This non painful closes the nerve gates that transmits pain. Wanna dig deeper? Come on.
Pain evolving stimulus are called Nociceptive stimul. Pain is carried by small nerve fibres called A(delta) and C fibres. The pain is carried via these fibres to the dorsal horn and from there to the brain. Stimulus other than that elicits pain (eg. Pressure, touch) are called non nociceptive stimulus. They are carried by the larger A(beta) fibres. In the spinal cord, there are two cells. 1). Transmission cells 2) Inhibitory interneuron. The inhibitory interneuron is activated by A(beta) fibres and acts as a gate that doesn’t allow the pain to be carried to the brain by the transmission cell. Thus non nociceptive stimulus via inhibitory interneurons prevents Nociceptive stimulus from reaching the brain thus relieving pain.
Solutions offered by VR
While it’s evident that virtual reality can offer an alleviating distraction from periods of temporary pain, such as during a blood draw or childbirth, it’s somewhat impractical for those experiencing chronic pain to continuously be wearing a VR headset.
Companies such as Los Angeles-based AppliedVR believe that VR can also be used as a tool to teach people to manage their pain in the real world. AppliedVR’s platform takes pain relief beyond mere distraction by offering immersive content on breathing techniques, mindfulness, and relaxation. Some of their modules even incorporate heart rate and breathing data to provide live, personalized feedback to the user. By teaching pain management techniques that can be used independently of the headset, users experience how truly powerful one’s mind can be in responding to pain.
VR headset as a painkiller!
Virtual reality alone may not solve the opioid crisis, but its non-invasive, non-addictive nature and increasing quantity of positive scientific evidence make it a promising and attractive therapy for pain relief. Moreover, as VR continues to become more mainstream, its hardware costs will decrease, making the technology more accessible to patients in need of pain relief. Perhaps a VR headset will someday occupy a spot next the bottle of aspirin in the medicine cabinet.
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