Quantifying the Effectiveness of Virtual Reality Pain Management: A Pilot Study

Sensory pathways, consisting of chains of neurons, which spread from the receptor organ to the cerebral cortex, are responsible for the perception of sensations (including pain). In this study, we set out to determine how effective virtual reality (VR) could be in distracting patients from pain experienced through thermoreceptors on the skin. Six healthy subjects were exposed to uncomfortable pain stimuli with and without VR distraction. Subjects reported a drop in pain while in the VR environment, and mean pain rating was significantly lower than the session with no VR distraction. These results indicate that VR distraction can diminish pain experienced by subjects, thus we conclude by eliciting future directions for quantifying effectiveness of VR as a pain management solution.