Pain Relief using Virtual Reality

Abstract

A serious issue in the medical field is the treatment of patients affected by chronic pain, burns or recovery treatment after an accident or surgery. The regular treatment is providing the patient with opioid pain relievers medications that in a wide variety of cases leads to addiction. To prevent the partial use of pain reducing drugs in patients that suffer from minor to medium pain and delay their use as much as possible, we propose the use of Virtual Reality technology. Current technological advances have allowed virtual reality application to leave their mark in the medical sector by the use of different training simulators and applications that help the doctors experience from simulating a variety of surgeries. In this paper we present the effects of Virtual Reality immersion on patients that suffer mild to medium pain, as well as our knowledge in the implementation of a virtual reality application that can achieve a positive effect on this serious issue. A direct benefit of successfully creating an application would be the reduction in the amount of pain the patient feels. A second positive effect would be the decrease in the consumption of pain relievers and a better response of the patient to the recovery treatment without the risk of becoming depended on opioids.