Results showed significant increases in general mood state, positive emotions, motivation, and self-efficacy. These preliminary findings show the potential of VR as an adjunct to the psychological treatment of such an important health problem as chronic pain.

Significant reductions in pain measures including: worst pain, time thinking about pain, level of pain unpleasantness.

Pain control was more effective than mere distraction

The VR distraction had effects not only on concurrent experiences, such as perceived control, but longitudinally upon the vividness of memories after the dental experience had ended. Participants with higher dental anxiety (for whom the dental procedures were presumably more aversive) showed a greater reduction in memory vividness than lower dental-anxiety participants.

“This study thus suggests that VR distractions can be considered as a relevant intervention for cycles of care in which people’s previous experiences affect their behaviour for future events.”

VR significantly better than control, HMD vs. non-HMD not significantly different

Found that using a Kinect for large motor movement in VR reduced pain better than small motor movement with a mouse.

Chronic pain patients demonstrated significant relief in subjective ratings of pain that corresponded to objective measurements in peripheral, noninvasive physiological measures.

Paired t tests revealed that VAS scores were sig- nificantly lower during VR compared with the movie (P < .001) and control (P < .001) conditions. Similarly, BP and PR were lowest during VR, followed by the movie and control conditions. Patients reported that they preferred the VR condition.

Reductions in pain and associated anxiety.

VR superior to Emotion Induction Task and no difference between tracked HMD and Projector at same (low) FOV

VR + medication was significantly better than control. Pain reduction was greatest with the patients in the worst pain.

“Subjects reported significant decreases (27–44%) in pain ratings during virtual reality. They also reported improved affect (‘‘fun’’) during virtual reality. The analgesia and affect improvements were maintained with repeated virtual reality use over multiple therapy sessions….”These results suggest that immersive virtual reality is an effective nonpharmacologic, adjunctive pain reduction technique in the pediatric burn population undergoing painful rehabilitation therapy. The magnitude of the analgesic effect is clinically meaningful and is maintained with repeated use.”

There was a significant increase in pain tolerance and pain threshold in both passive and interactive distraction. Distraction helmet showed more effect.

“VR reduced all Graphic Rating Scale pain scores (worst pain, time spent thinking about the pain, and pain unpleasantness by 27, 37, and 31% respectively), relative to the no VR condition.

– Ninety-seven percent of patients reported zero to mild nausea after the VR session. “

Results showed more pain reduction during interactive VR than during non-interactive VR. Compared to the non-interactive group, the interactive VR group reported 32% more reduction in time spent thinking about pain, 75% more reduction in pain unpleasantness, 74% more reduction in worst pain, and 47% more increase in fun during VR

Found that when movements of the virtual limb correspond to capture motion data measured on the patient’s stump instead of the opposite remaining limb, it allows the patients to gain agency for the movement they see, and feel embodied within the limb

All VR conditions decreased pain ratings compared to the control condition. VR appeared to differentially influence pain rating to both hot and cold stimuli.

VR distraction showed significant reduction in pain for patients experiencing severe to excruciating pain during wound care.

All VR conditions increased pain threshold, and were more engaging than control condition.

” Both VR environments reduced pain for heat and cold pain stimuli when compared to the control

(-) No significant changes in measures of Cyber sickness were detected.”

” either passive or interactive distraction caused improvements in both pain tolerance and threshold

Interactive distraction was more effective than the passive.”

Pain reduced. Patients reported higher wellbeing. There was the reduction of medication dosage that predicts the usefulness of VR.

All pain ratings were significantly lower during the VR distraction than during non-VR.

Combined opioid + VR reduced pain reports more effectively than opioid alone or VR distraction alone, on all subjective pain measures.

All outcome scores were reduced for children in the VR group. No simulator sickness.

Pain components were significantly lower in VR. Tolerance time in VR was significantly longer than No VR.

VR group showed significant reduction in pain intensity regardless whether it combined with hypnosis or not. Combination of PHS with VR reduced worst pain and unpleasantness more.

Results showed that combination of VR and hypnosis more effectively decreased all GRS pain scores than hypnosis alone.

High-Tech-VR helmet group, showed a clinically significant effects on all pain related outcomes during virtual reality.

Lower frequency of moderate to severe pain intensity in VR via HMD

Areas covered include stroke rehabilitation (upper and lower extremity training, spatial and perceptual-motor training), acquired brain injury, Parkinson’s disease, orthopedic rehabilitation, balance training, wheelchair mobility and functional activities of daily living training, and the newly developing field of telerehabilitation. Four major findings emerge from these studies:

(1) people with disabilities appear capable of motor learning within virtual environments;

(2) movements learned by people with disabilities in VR transfer to real world equivalent motor tasks in most cases, and in some cases even generalize to other untrained tasks;

(3) in the few studies (n = 5) that have compared motor learning in real versus virtual environments, some advantage for VR training has been found in all cases; and

(4) no occurrences of cybersickness in impaired populations have been reported to date in experiments where VR has been used to train motor abilities.

virtual reality signigcantly reduced pain-related brain activity in all 5 regions of interest; the anterior cingulate cortex, primary and secondary somatosensory cortex, insula, and thalamus

The mean pain score and the dose of sedative medication required in group 2 was significantly lower compare to group 1 and 3

High-Tech-VR helmet group, showed a clinically significant reduction in pain intensity and a stronger presence during VR

The results showed that using A/V eyeglasses decreased anxiety and pain discomfort more than using no eyeglasses.

There was a significant reduction in all pain ratings while patients immersed in VR during PT.

Magnitude of pain reduction did not diminish with repeated use of VR.

All pain ratings for all pain measures were significantly lower during VR than in the control condition.

Phantom limb pain reduced using a “virtual reality box”.