OCTOBER 12, 2023
Data from a small randomized study indicate that use of virtual reality headsets may reduce the pain scores of burn victims during dressing changes.
“Current standard clinical practices include using opioids to control pain and anxiety drugs (benzodiazepines) to control coexisting anxiety as cornerstones of burn pain management in the inpatient setting,” said Henry Xiang, MD, MPH, PhD, MBA, the director of the Center for Pediatric Trauma Research at the Abigail Wexner Research
Data from a small randomized study indicate that use of virtual reality headsets may reduce the pain scores of burn victims during dressing changes.
“Current standard clinical practices include using opioids to control pain and anxiety drugs (benzodiazepines) to control coexisting anxiety as cornerstones of burn pain management in the inpatient setting,” said Henry Xiang, MD, MPH, PhD, MBA, the director of the Center for Pediatric Trauma Research at the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, in Columbus, Ohio. “Novel nonpharmacological pain alleviation approaches are needed to manage pain more effectively during burn care. VR is an effective nonpharmacological pain management approach.”
Study participants were split into three groups: active VR participants, who played a series of four VR games; passive VR participants, who went on an automated virtual tour of game environments but without any of the interactive elements of the games; and a control group, who did not receive VR headsets (PLOS Digit Health 2023;2[9]:e0000231).
Self-reported overall pain was measured using a visual analog score with a numerical scale from 0 (least pain) to 100 (most pain). Pain was lowest among participants in the active VR group (dressing 1, 41.3; dressing 2, 61.0; dressing 3, 72.7), and highest among participants in the passive VR group (dressing 1, 58.3; dressing 2, 74.5; dressing 3, 89.0).
Average self-reported worst pain was lowest among the active VR group at the first and last dressings (64.3 and 92.2, respectively). However, the control group had the lowest self-reported worst pain at the second dressing (71.3).
“There are other studies suggesting that VR could be effective in managing other kinds of pain such as chronic pain. The caveat is that rigorous clinical trials with adequate sample size must be done before VR pain alleviation therapeutics are widely promoted to patients who suffer that particular pain condition,” Xiang concluded.
—Myles Starr
