Virtual reality is used in hospitals to help people deal with pain

6 min read

virtual reality in hospitals helps people deal with pain

Despite George's being in and out of hospitals since he was 16, Harmon Clark's biggest concerns are injecting a vein into his arm, while 34-year-old Los Angeles resident Eric has over 30 surgeries related to his Crohn's disease, But getting IV needle injections and always having stressful anxiety.

"Because of my Crohn's I really dry out, which makes it very difficult for me to get to the infusion," Clark said. "Once a shot is tolerable, but five or eight, I always cry. It's just like a nightmare."

Fortunately for the two patients, the first day of their kind performed. As part of a research project at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Clark received virtual reality glasses by the bedside and when he felt pain. Virtual reality glasses reacted in advance with 3D multifunctional content designed to distract patients from pain.

Clark put his virtual reality glasses on, and natural and calm beauty of Yellowstone National Park immediately replaced his bustling hospital room. He relaxed - and the nurse could give him the care he needed.

Since then, virtual reality has used in hospitals around the world, researchers have found that virtual reality is suitable for almost any medical field, from insertion of needles, blood pumping, pain relief, surgeries and also used for download over time to medication, and as a solution to insomnia.

Erin Martucci, 42, first tried virtual reality in a very different, but also incredibly painful situation during childbirth. For the birth of her second child, she told her obstetrician that she wanted a natural birth, no epidural or any pain medication. But as her birth progressed, fear and anxiety took over, "I could see the contractions going faster... I panicked a bit," said Martucci, a resident of New Hampton, N.Y. "I rocked, 'Oh, God, I'm not Can do that, "and just a moment before I went for epidural use, the doctor thought of a creative way and recommended me virtual reality glasses.

The doctor "put the glasses on, and I was immediately in an amazing beach scene listening to breathing training by the sound of a woman's voice passing my breath," she says. "After the visuals and sounds came in, it completely soothed me and the training and the stories in the background, calmed me down and made me breathe. Took that anxiety away, and I knew I could do it without the epidural," after nearly two hours of complicated labor, the doctor removed the reality glasses Imagine its time for Martucci to push her baby. Within a minute, she was giving birth to a healthy baby.

When the doctor lowered my virtual reality glasses "I thought, what's up? Why are you taking me now?" "Because we didn't talk about what was going to happen before, I really thought I was going to use virtual reality glasses when I push my babies out!" saying. "In summary, she says, virtual reality has helped me get through the thing I was most afraid of - and like I did - anyone can do it with no drug help."

Clark and Martucci represent a growing number of patients being treated with a virtual reality distraction about hospital pain. Another example is Cedars-Sina, which has used virtual reality technology in over 2,500 patients since 2016 to date, more than any other hospital in the world. Martucci's gynecologist Ralph Anderson, a practicing physician at Orange Medical Center in Middletown, has helped over 50 women relieve pain during childbirth with virtual reality glasses.

They apply another company VR, a company that sells virtual reality kits and creates its own therapeutic content. The company has already partnered with over 100 hospitals to date, including Inova Mount Vernon Hospital, Boston Children's Hospital, and Los Angeles Children's Hospital.

"Virtual reality is part of our culture right now, it's not about technology as badly as it used to be. This time people look at it as an opportunity to provide better patient care," says Jeffrey Gold, director of the Los Angeles Children's Pain Clinic, which began using VR in 2004. "Virtual reality can reduce the dosage and dependence on pain medication or even eliminate the need for medication for some patients, which will be an optimal achievement."

Researchers around the world explored virtual reality as a pain treatment in the late 1990s, but the expensive and large equipment then prevented the technology from breaking through. Virtual reality systems are now cheaper, lighter, smaller, and there are many more people using a smartphone for display and hardware, which of course cuts costs.

A wave of improved devices - along with a growing opioid epidemic that has left most experienced doctors thinking of more beneficial and healthier treatments has sparked renewed interest in treating virtual reality patients, "We want to understand how we can use different virtual reality technologies to improve the patient experience That no longer require drugs, and virtual reality is one of them, "said Brennan Spiegel, director of health services research at Cider-Sinai.

Several recent studies have attempted to provide evidence that virtual reality therapy works. In 2017, Spiegel and colleagues published a controlled study examining the effects of pain under the experience of 3D virtual reality versus a 2-D video on a TV screen in 100 hospitalized patients. Although both methods reduced perceived pain levels, patients in the virtual reality group reported a greater reduction in pain, on average, compared to the TV group.

Last year, a randomized controlled study by Gold and colleagues found that out of a group of 143 children, part of the group who used virtual reality glasses during a blood test reported far less pain and anxiety than the half who did not use virtual reality. Other studies, focusing on patients with cancer, fibromyalgia, chronic pain and burn injuries, have unequivocally established similar results.

"I've been in the fire department for 18 years and concluded that drugs are not enough," said Theresa, a nurse practitioner at the Oregon Clinic in Portland. "One patient was a real challenge, a young man who burned 100 percent of his body, and the drugs did not work for him. There was not much I could do for him, and this unfortunate experience ended me. After using virtual reality glasses, there was a real improvement in the patient's mental and physical level."

Another example is Hunter Hoffman from the University of Washington, who began testing the capabilities of virtual reality glasses for pain applications in 1996. He has developed equipment to test what patients need for their wounds, what their pain level is, and what the studies have shown is a real improvement in the ability of the glasses to work as distraction, on patients, especially games that triggered the patient such as "Snow world", a game in which the player immersed in the world. Polar, they can throw virtual snowballs at penguins and snow. It means the environment to be an antithesis of cooling to the burns of the sick, while the aspect of the game distracts them from the pain.

In another study of 18 patients, the researchers found that virtual reality reduces the amount of opioid drugs requested by patients by 39% during wound care compared to the same situation without virtual reality. The clinic still uses simulated reality regularly to reduce both internal and external pain.

"Virtual reality will not solve the opioid crisis completely, but it is worthwhile to use the virtual reality toolbox to help people become less dependent on early stage drugs." "It is a tool with the potential to teach about pain desensitization and coping, which may allow maximum utilization of healing to return to a better functional state."

According to virtual reality experts in Israel and around the world, virtual reality applications can teach people to manage their pain in the actual world. Clark, for example, learned relaxation skills from an app in virtual reality. Although some programs, such as "Snow world," distract, Applied VR offers modules that each cover a different topic, such as breathing techniques, attention, and positive thinking. These modules also incorporate heart rate and respiratory data to provide physicians or users with biofeedback.

"Virtual reality can train and convince humans to have control over their bodies, so they can exploit virtual reality to change the brain's response to injuries by manipulating positively," Spiegel said.

Virtual reality glasses that completely cover the eyes, change the patient's view of the "real" world, create a computer world. The technology radiates at 360 degrees and monitors head and body movements, allowing patients to look freely around the virtual world. Full visual audio envelopes the patient without interrupting him hearing the doctor as well. With hand controllers, you can work on mechanics and manipulate objects. Virtual reality can make you feel as if you are calm on the beach, when in fact you are at the doctor or the hospital.

"The mind is not used to being in two realities at once. Evolutionally, we never had to think about living in two realities. Our mind, our mind and our body grown to live in this reality," Spiegel said. "So if we are in virtual reality, the brain now has an alternate reality, and the brain sees it as real, research shows that there is some cancellation over the other (reality) reality.

Not only is growing excitement, most of the challenges and barriers to virtual reality as a pain management tool have removed, with a steady increase in medical use, and the fall in prices over the past year has given the signal and approval for massive use in healthcare.

"If you have a serious medical problem, you can already purchase virtual reality glasses for home care today," said Vanita Gupta, an anesthetist and pain specialist at Princeton University, "opioid pain management solutions involve. I am attracted to virtual reality treatments, given its non-invasive and non-drug-like approach (it is important to note that older patients have had difficulty getting the device and appear more prone to headaches, nausea and dizziness, though a solution to the issue is already on the horizon.

"The adults are a little more suspicious. They'll say things like 'I'm too busy' or 'I'm too tired.' Or will they say, 'Hey, are you trying this on me? Is that like an experiment?' "Spiegel said. However, the paradox is that we have actually seen that older patients have more deep pain reduction [through virtual reality] than younger people.

Treating Virtual Reality Disorders Suitable for Anyone and Every Area, Patients such as Clark and Martucci and others have sworn that technology was the replacement for painkillers they took. Martucci recommends a virtual reality for future mothers in her community, and she would happily use it if she had another baby. And Clark loves what virtual reality does for him, even though he still experiences daily pain.

"Cure for pain is definitely a necessity. It's part of my life now, while we're getting the usual pain medication," Clark said. "I still do everything from acupuncture and massage and always look at virtual reality glasses during treatment, it's alternative and without side effects, so this virtual reality has been a real blessing for me because it really helps."

And what is happening in Israel? Virtual Reality Israel has for many years involved in the therapeutic realities in virtual and stratified reality, we have established several projects for hospitals in Israel from all kinds of departments, and we have worked with several senior doctors and specialists in Israel and around the world.

Projects we have established in Israel already provide relief to thousands of sick children and ease their pain, today in Israel we operate in several hospitals and pain clinics, the results are amazing; it is important to note that many individuals use virtual reality such as disabled people suffering from battle or anxiety, people in need of rehabilitation Physical or mental, people who want to overcome audience fear or phobia and many other wonderful things.

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virtual reality in hospitals helps people deal with pain