research-article

VR Games for Chronic Pain Management

Authors:

Simon James Robertson Mccallum,

Brian Robinson,

Daniel Medeiros,

Joaquim JorgeAuthors Info & Claims

VRST '22: Proceedings of the 28th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

Article No.: 4, Pages 1 - 11

https://doi.org/10.1145/3562939.3565624

Published: 29 November 2022 Publication History

Abstract

Chronic pain is a continuous ailment lasting for long periods after the initial injury or disease has healed. Chronic pain is challenging to treat and affects the daily lives of patients. Distraction therapy is a proven method of relieving patients’ discomfort by taking their attention away from the pain. Virtual reality (VR) is a platform for distraction therapy by immersing the user in a virtual world detached from reality. However, there is little research on how physical interactions in VR affect pain management. We present a study to evaluate the effectiveness of physically active, mentally active, and passive interventions in VR using games with chronic pain patients. Our results indicate that physical and mental activities in VR are equally effective at reducing pain. Furthermore, These actively engage patients, while the effects of observing relaxing content persist outside VR. These findings can help inform the design of future VR games targeted at chronic pain management.

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Cited By

Loewen GCochrane KGirouard A(2024)From Imagination to Innovation: Using Participatory Design Fiction to Envision the Future of Accessible Gaming Wearables for Players with Upper Limb Motor DisabilitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770738:CHI PLAY(1-30)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677073
Zghab SPagé GLussier MBédard SCheng J(2024)"It's Sink or Swim": Exploring Patients' Challenges and Tool Needs for Self-Management of Postoperative Acute PainProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642916(1-11)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642916

Index Terms

VR Games for Chronic Pain Management
1. Human-centered computing
  1. Human computer interaction (HCI)
    1. Interaction paradigms
      1. Virtual reality

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cover image ACM Conferences

VRST '22: Proceedings of the 28th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

November 2022

466 pages

ISBN:9781450398893

DOI:10.1145/3562939

Editors:
Takafumi Koike
Hosei University, Japan
,
Naoya Koizumi
The University of Electro-Communications, Japan
,
Gerd Bruder
University of Central Florida, USA
,
Daniel Roth
Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg, Germany
,
Kazuki Takashima
Tohoku University, Japan
,
Takefumi Hiraki
University of Tsukuba, Japan
,
Yuki Ban
The University of Tokyo, Japan
,
Michal Piovarci
Institute of Science and Technology Austria, Austria

Copyright © 2022 ACM.

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Published: 29 November 2022

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VRST '22: 28th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

November 29 - December 1, 2022

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Cited By

Loewen GCochrane KGirouard A(2024)From Imagination to Innovation: Using Participatory Design Fiction to Envision the Future of Accessible Gaming Wearables for Players with Upper Limb Motor DisabilitiesProceedings of the ACM on Human-Computer Interaction10.1145/36770738:CHI PLAY(1-30)Online publication date: 15-Oct-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3677073
Zghab SPagé GLussier MBédard SCheng J(2024)"It's Sink or Swim": Exploring Patients' Challenges and Tool Needs for Self-Management of Postoperative Acute PainProceedings of the 2024 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems10.1145/3613904.3642916(1-11)Online publication date: 11-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3613904.3642916

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