To experience pain, one must be attentive to it. Many studies have also suggested that simple distractions can help us tolerate pain. Therefore, researchers are looking for alternative treatments that work similar to painkillers.
Most of this research is being used to help burn patients tolerate pain during treatment. One of their alternatives includes the virtual reality (VR) game, SnowWorld. The standard treatment usually involves high doses of morphine. However, it often fails to numb the patients.
In the research, patients wear a VR headset over their faces alongside the standard painkillers. Since the headset covers their full vision, the patients see themselves in a virtual ice tundra.
The patients spend the treatment throwing virtual snowballs at snowmen and woolly mammoths with Paul Simon’s music playing in the background. Notably, this distraction reduces the pain as well as morphine.
A meta-analysis reviewed 10 studies which compared standard treatments with VR games. Here’s what the studies found:
- The patients experienced significantly reduced pain.
- They could tolerate longer treatment.
- Due to low morphine, the patients were less nauseous.
- It complied with more physical therapy.
While the results were extraordinary, some concluded that virtual video games could be as dangerous as morphine for children. In conclusion, VR video games are promising for acute medical procedures.