Pain Reduction after Short Exposure to Virtual Reality Environments in People with Spinal Cord Injury

This study investigates if virtual reality (VR) can help reduce neuropathic pain in people with spinal cord injuries. Participants were exposed to different VR environments and their pain levels were measured before and after. The study found that short VR sessions could indeed lower pain. Two types of VR environments were used: scenery (nature scenes) and somatic (simulated body movements). Both types led to pain reduction, and there was no significant difference in their effectiveness. The study also looked at how immersed participants felt in the VR environments. It found that a higher sense of immersion was linked to greater pain reduction, suggesting that the more engaged someone is with the VR, the more pain relief they might experience.

• 1
  Short-term exposure to both scenery and somatic VR environments resulted in a significant reduction in neuropathic pain intensity in people with spinal cord injury.
• 2
  There was no significant difference in pain reduction between the scenery and somatic VR interventions.
• 3
  A statistically significant negative correlation was found between immersive tendencies (ITQ score) and pain reduction after the scenery VR intervention, suggesting that greater immersion is associated with greater pain relief.